AP Gov CH14

Bureaucracy

A hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality.

Hierarchical Authority

Power flows from the top down and reasonability flows from the bottom up.

Task Specialization

Experts instead of amateurs perform technical jobs.

Merit Principle

The idea that hiring should be based on entrance exams and promotion ratings to produce administration by people with talent and skill.

Impersonality

Treats all clients the same.

Patronage

A system in which jobs and promotions are awarded for political reasons rather than for merit or competence.

Pendleton Civil Service Act

Passed in 1883, an act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.

Civil Service

A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service.

Hatch Act

A federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics at any time.

Office of Personnel Management

The office in charge of hiring for most agencies of the federal government, using elaborate rules in the process.

General Schedule Rating

A schedule for federal employees, ranging from GS1 to GS18, by which salaries can be keyed to rating and experience.

Senior Executive Service

An elite cadre of about 9,000 federal government managers at the top of the civil service system.

Plum Book

A book published by Congress that lists he top federal jobs that available for direct presidential appointment.

Independent Regulatory Commission

A government agency responsibility for making and enforcing rules to protect the public interest in some sector of the economy and for judging disputes over these rules.

Federal Reserve Board

Governs banks and regulates the supply of money and interest rates.

National Labor Relations Board

Regulates labor management relations.

Federal Communications Commission

Licenses radio and TV stations and regulates their programming, long-distance telephone rates, cable TV, and the Internet.

Federal Trade Commission

Regulates business practices, controls monopolistic behavior, and policing the accuracy or advertising.

Securities and Exchange Commission

Created to police the stock market.

Humphrey's Executor v. U.S.

Presidents could not fire members of regulatory agencies without just cause.

Government Corporations

A government organization that provides a service that could be delivered by the private sector and typically charges for its services.

Independent Executive Agencies

The government agencies not accounted for by cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations.

General Services Agencies

Takes care of government buildings.

National Science Foundation

Funds scientific research.

NASA

Explores space.

Policy Implementation

The stage of policymaking between the establishment of the policy and the consequences of the policy for the people affected.

Program Design

A law, executive order, etc. could be written poorly and serve the intended purpose.

Lack of Clarity

A law could be overly complex and difficult to interpret.

Lack of Resources

Agencies lack the funding, personnel, training, equipment, and etc. to fully do all the tasks they are assigned.

Lack of Authority

Many agencies lack authority to investigate and punish offenders.

Administrative Routine

Administrations get into the routine of doing things.

Standard Operating Procedures

These procedures for everyday decision making enable bureaucrats to being efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations.

Administrative Discretion

The authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem.

Street-level Bureaucrats

Those bureaucrats who are in constant contact with the public and have considerable administrative discretion.

Fragmentation

Administration of one policy could be split many times over.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Outlawed literacy tests and other methods to discriminate against African Americans and their right to vote.

Privatization

The push to use private sector in the levels of government.

Regulation

The use of governmental authority to control or change some new practices in the private sector.

Deregulation

The lifting of government restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities.

Command-and-Control Policy

The typical system of regulation whereby government tells business how to reach certain goals, and checks that these commands are followed and punishes offenders.

Incentive System

Uses rewards to manage public policy.

Iron Triangles

A mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees.