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Bureaucracy

The vast system of civil servants and political appointees who implement congressional or presidential decisions; also known as the administrative state.

Civil Servants

Millions of permanent employees who are 'rank and file' employees, serving for their expertise.

Political Appointees

Thousands of short-term employees who are appointed by the presidents and may not have expertise, chosen for loyalty.

Bureaucratic Functions

Implement and develop programs, regulations, and policies to achieve goals of policies established by Congress or the President.

How do bureaucrats have power over policy implementation?

Bureaucrats have the ability to interpret how statutes should be enforced; they have more discretion when laws are broad/vague and less when laws are specific.

Regulations

Government rules that give control over individuals and corporations by restricting behavior.

Bureaucratic Expertise

Specialized knowledge that, in general, neither Congress nor the President have and is why they have power to implement policy.

State Capacity

The knowledge, capital, personnel, and institution needed to effectively implement policies.

Principals-Agent Game

The need to balance control with discretion, where agents (the Bureaucracy) work for principals (President or Congress).

How to let agents maximize their expertise while still making sure they align with the principal's agenda.

Regulatory Capture

When bureaucrats work to benefit a small group of individuals or corporations they regulate instead of the public, allowing corporations into the political process.

What are the incentives for regulatory capture?

Bureaucratic goals are often to maximize their budget.

Short-term political appointees often come out of the industry that they end up regulating.

Bureaucrats hope to gain well-paid positions with big companies after retirement from government service.

Red Tape

Excessive or unnecessarily complex regulations emerge when trying to control the agent.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Step-by-step rules every bureaucrat must follow when implementing policy.

Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)

Established federal civil service, which is the system of bureaucrats hired based on merit, not partisanship, and the idea that policy should be implemented by experts as America is growing more complex.

The New Deal

Federal government and bureaucracy grew significantly under FDR in response to the Great Depression and world wars.

LBJ's Great Society

A series of programs aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice, expanding bureaucracy in areas like education, transportation, healthcare, food security, and voting rights (created welfare state)

Reagan's Policies

Promised to reduce the size of federal government, arguing against government intervention in social issues. Rise of conservatism.

Over time, how has the bureaucracy changed?

Power and growth has expanded as America developed more complexity, essentially all presidents after Reagan have expanded bureaucracy regardless of ideology.

Hatch Act

Prohibits federal workers from engaging in organized political activities.

Primary Elections

Elections where candidates must win against others in their party to run under that party.

What are the differences between the various types of Primaries?

Open → Any registered voter can vote in any party's primary, regardless of party affiliation.

Semi-Closed → Registered members must vote in their own party's primary, and unaffiliated voters can choose a party's primary.

Closed → Only registered members of a party can vote in its primary; independents and other parties are excluded.

What are the main differences between General and Midterm Elections?

General → Candidates must be generally elected by citizen voters after the primary, best turnout.

Midterms → Elections occurring in 2018, 2022, 2026, and 2030, where 33% of the Senate and the whole House are up for reelection, less turnout than General, but more than Primary.

How do Primary Elections differ from General Elections?

Votes go towards delegates that endorse a candidate and vote at Nomination Conventions.

Primaries have lower turnout than General elections.

National/Nomination Convention

One for each party, main task is to select a party's presidential nominee, although usually the delegate's vote at the convention is a formality.

Plurality/FPTP vs Majority Voting

Plurality/FPTP → The candidate who receives the most votes wins, regardless of whether they achieve a majority, a winner-take-all system.

Majority → The candidate who receives a majority of the votes wins, if no candidates earn majority, a run-off is held.

Eligibility to Vote

Must be 18+, not convicted of a major crime, meet residency requirement (usually 30 days), and be a US citizen.

Front Loading

The earlier the primary is completed, the greater say that state has in the nomination process because there are more candidates to choose from.

Proportional Allocation

A state's delegate seats are divided among candidates based on their share of the vote.

Winner-Take-All

A state's delegate seats are all given to the candidate that won the majority vote.

Party Cohesion

It is much better to have a candidate from their own party to be elected (their opponent) vs. someone from the other party, so nominal opponents will end up supporting the nominee.

Popular Vote

The votes cast by citizens, chooses that person's slate of pledged supporters from their state to serve as electors.

Electoral College

The electors chosen by the popular vote that actually votes for one candidate or the other

total electors: 538.

votes needed to win: 270

What are the cons of the electoral college?

Small, often republican, states are overrepresented.

Causes candidates to focus on swing states and high pop. states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia.

Can elect presidents without popular vote.

Fundamentals

Electoral rules and factors that are out of electors' control but may still shape election results, such as voter ID requirements, constituents' party IDs (safe vs swing districts), economic conditions, externalities such as Covid-19.

How are candidate's platforms constrained?

They must be consistent throughout campaign and with past positions.

Align with party values (Democrats = liberal, Republicans = conservative) and

demands from political supporters.

Positive vs. Negative Campaigning

Positive: Emphasize their own (or their preferred candidates') qualifications and platform.

Negative: Focus on criticizing their opponent's positions, experience, and lack of qualifications.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

Eliminated restrictions on campaign advertising by large groups resulting in extreme amounts of money being invested into influencing the outcomes of American elections.

Independent Expenditures

A party or group spends money to advocate for a candidate but the campaign does not control, direct, or approve the activity.

"hard" money vs. "soft" money

Hard money: donations that are used to help elect or defeat a specific candidate.

Soft money: can be used to promote a point of view if not tied to a particular candidate.

political action committee (PAC)

interest group that can fund campaigns and influence voters, is often loosely associated with a party but cannot directly state that.

Hard money donations are heavily restricted by law, so they form 527s.

Super PACs

do not donate to candidates but use soft money to make unlimited independent expenditures in campaigns

What is the paradox of voting?

The question of why citizens vote even though their individual votes stand little chance of changing the election outcome.

Mostly because it is viewed as a civic duty (Downsian Theory).

Structural Factors for Voting

states where felons can't vote, voter ID requirements, and early/vote by mail laws can make it harder or easier for certain people to vote

issue vs. identity voting

issue voters vote based on their knowledge about the candidates vs. identity voters vote based on whether they feel people like them should vote for that candidate

retrospective vs. prospective voting

Voting based on past performance vs. future promises

voting cues

Pieces of information about a candidate that are readily available, easy to interpret, and lead a citizen to decide to vote for a particular candidate, such as Party ID, if that candidate has helped you or your community, personal characteristics of candidate, pocketbook voting (based on economy), and incumbent status.

Public Opinion

What the people think about politics and government, driving how they choose to vote.

Helps to explain behavior of citizens, officials, and policy outcomes

Latent Opinions/Considerations

An opinion formed on the spot, when it is needed based on pieces of relevant information that come to mind when the opinion is requested.

Opinions on what aspects are formed early and tend to stay stable over time, and serve as cues for other opinions?

Party identification

Liberal or conservative

Trust in government

Political Socialization

a process where political opinions are shaped by one's parents, family, community, and culture

Mass surveys/polls

ask people questions to understand what their opinions are, and are where a majority of public opinion knowledge comes from.

Why is survey data important to politicians?

They use it to decide on election campaign strategies and to know what their constituents want to see from government.

Individual vs. aggregate opinion

Public opinion may be difficult to predict on an individual level as there is a lot of variation, but is much easier on the aggregate level.

Policy mood

Captures the public's collective demands for government action on domestic policies and is ultimately reflected in electoral results and government policy.

What must be ensured in a mass survey for it to accurately represent its total population of interest?

Random and large sample size (>1000).

A low percentage deviation (3%) from the true population mean (margin of error)

Non-influential wording

Random samples difficulties

It is hard to get a truly random sample. For example, cell lines are disproportionately owned by older Americans, while younger Americans are more likely to be reached by e-polls.

Social Desirability bias

Although face-to-face surveys are the best method, there are still difficulties. People have a desire to answer questions in a way that makes them look good to others.

American National Election Study (ANES)

The main source of opinion information; very reliable and minimizes the problems in measuring public opinions.

Mass Media

Sources that provide information to average citizens on a day-to-day basis, such as newspapers, radio, televisions and the internet.

How does media act as a watchdog?

Journalists check the legitimacy and integrity of people in power's actions, deterring politicians from engaging in potentially deleterious behavior, such as lying.

How does media act as a linking institution between the public and the government?

Media informs citizens about government actions and therefore helps them exercise control over public policy.

Yellow Journalism

Reporting that misconstrues and sensationalizes fact.

Demonstrates that the media has the ability to change public opinion, and are private companies that seek profit.

William Hearst

Published New York Journal, brought sensationalism, vibrancy, and rhetoric to news; claimed the Maine was sunk by the Spanish.

Modern vs Traditional Media

Traditional media, like newspapers, were the main source of political knowledge throughout history. The rise of the internet and other technologies dramatically increases the amount of political information available and has become main source of information.

Networks

Groups of local radio and television stations owned by one company that broadcast a common set of programs.

Many were developed as highly profitable enterprises that delivered entertainment as well as news to citizens

Social Media

Allows people to interact with representatives and with each other.

Why doesn't the increased amount of information available on the internet result in a better-informed citizenry?

People don't have the time or want to seek out political information.

Very few sources provide complete and accurate coverage.

Fact and opinion are not always distinguished.

A shift from longer to shorter stories provides fewer details and background knowledge.

By-Product Theory

People only hear political information through their other media choices, not on purpose.

People can more easily chose to not consume political info with modern media vs traditional media.

Partisan Selective Exposure

People are more likely to use a source if they believe the source's partisan lean matches their own.

Can result in an echo chamber that reinforces existing beliefs without providing any challenge.

Broadcast Media

Communications technologies, such as TV and radio, that broadcast information over the airwaves that became commonplace in 1930s.

FCC (Federal Communications Commission)

Began to regulate the media after becoming concerned about it's ability to shape public opinion and control monopolies over the airwaves.

Equal Time Provisions

The FCC requires that politicians receive the same amount of coverage across media.

Fairness Doctrine

Broadcasters had to present opposing points of view as part of their coverage of important events (not in place after deregulation).

Concentration and cross-ownership of media

Deregulation allowed many media companies own several sources and types of media in one geographic area.

Off-the-Record/On Background

Reporters can use this information but cannot attribute it to the politician by name, which allows them to test the waters with potential policy ideas without the risk of fallout

How do politicians use the media to shape public opinion?

May give information to reporters that will favorably report on them, and withhold from those who may not.

Hold or attend events that are likely to be positively covered by media, creating name recognition and putting their contributions in a favorable light.

Prior Restraint (Censorship)

A government preventing material from being published. This is a common method of limiting the press in some nations, but it is usually unconstitutional in the United States.

Laws prohibit government officials' disclosure of classified information.

Why might reporters choose to practice restraint?

To ensure positive connections with sources.

Fear that the event being staged to generate good coverage.

Threat by government.

Keeping secrets may be in the best national interest, such as when politicians visit dangerous locations

Media Effects

The influence of media coverage on average citizens' opinions and actions that stems from how and what information is presented.

Hostile Media Effect

The tendency for people to view neutral media as biased to their own point of view.

Story Framing

The way a story is presented or covered, including the details, explanations, and context offered in the report can shape what conclusions people draw about different issues.

Story Filtering

Journalists' and editors' decisions about which of many potential news stories to report shapes public opinion on what issues are important.

Campaign media coverage

Overemphasizes the horse race aspects of campaigns, focusing on which candidates are ahead and which are falling behind.

What is the general structure of political parties?

Parties are loose networks, not rigid hierarchies and have a fluid structure.

Due to the size of the organization, platforms and structure varies from state-to-state, which generates infighting.

They are often viewed as having different roles in organization, government, and electorate.

Spoiler Effect

the better a minor-party candidate does, the more it ends up hurting its own voters by splitting the vote and causing the candidate who is furthest away from the third-party ideology to win.

The Party Principle

The idea that a political party exists as an organization separate from the elected officials who are the party leaders, established party in organization in the 2nd party system.

Spoils System

Practice of rewarding party supporters with benefits such as government positions.

Party Systems

The periods of time that parties are stable: their supporters and policies remain consistent and active in democracy.

Realignment

Each party system is separated from the next by a period of realignment, which involves a change in size or composition of coalitions and a shift in nature of issues that divide parties.

FDR's New Deal

A shift in party alignment where Democrats advocated for big government and Republicans for small government.

Coalition: Black Americans, Catholics, Jews, union members, and White southerners

Party in Organization

a political party's leaders and workers at the national, state, and local levels

The National Committee

A party's principal organization composed of party representatives from each state.

Other organizations exist at county, city, and state levels that may or may not disagree with the policy positions taken by the National Committee.

Constituency groups vs. Internal Organizations

Groups: External teams that work to attract the support of demographic groups, like Black Americans, Latinos, people with strong religious beliefs, etc

Internal Organizations: Affiliated organizations that support a party's platform but focus on a specific issues, such as Youth Democrats

Brand Names

Works as a cue that allows voters to generally know what each candidate stands for: Hearing 'republican' or 'democrat' brings to mind certain ideas about what politicians from those parties think and will probably vote for in office.

Issue ownership

Candidates from a party tend to concentrate their campaigns on issues that are part of their party's brand name.

Limits of Organization

Organizations are not hierarchies, and no one specific decides what an organization does. Parties are unable to force state and local organizations or candidates to share their positions on issues or comply with other requests.

Working Groups

Caucuses and Conferences that serve as a forum for debate, compromise, and strategizing among a party's elected officials.

Unified Government

When the executive and legislature are controlled by one party, working groups try to find common ground within the party.

Does not always mean that policy will be passed, policy outcomes depend on if individual officeholders from the party can resolve their differences

Divided Government

When the executive and legislature are controlled by opposing parties, working groups find opportunities to work with the other party or strategize on how to block the other party's initiatives.

Has become increasingly common since 1960s.

Party Polarization

Over time, ideological differences between the parties have grown with less centrist and middle ground positions.

Parties are not homogenous but are composed of multiple ideologies.