Public Policy wk 4

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from PAD 4003 Week 4 notes on official/unofficial actors, legislative processes, bureaucracy, and related public policy concepts.

Official actors

People or institutions whose powers to create and enforce public policy are defined and sanctioned by the Constitution and laws.

Unofficial actors

Participants in the policy process who lack explicit legal authority but influence outcomes due to interests, rights to participate, or essential roles in governance.

Legislature

A lawmaking body at federal, state, or local level (e.g., Congress, Florida Legislature, City Councils) responsible for creating laws.

Committees

Subunits within a legislature that review legislation, draft amendments, and decide whether bills advance.

Veto

The President’s constitutional power to reject a bill; can be overridden only by a supermajority in Congress.

Signing statements

Presidential statements issued at the time of signing a bill that interpret or announce how the law will be implemented.

Unitary executive

The idea that the President holds centralized control over the entire executive branch and policy execution.

Plum Book

An annual listing of federal executive branch appointments (often thousands) that the President can fill and senators confirm.

Administrative agencies

Government agencies that implement laws and regulations, typically under direct presidential control through appointments.

Bureaucracy contronyms

A contronym is a word with opposite meanings; bureaucracy can refer to both an organized system and red tape/inefficiency.

Public goods

Goods or services that the market underprovides, so the government provides them to ensure collective benefit.

Market failure

A situation where free markets do not allocate resources efficiently, justifying government intervention.

Publicness

The ethical dimension of public administration rooted in democratic values and human rights; governance with integrity and accountability.

Democratic backsliding

The gradual erosion of democratic norms, institutions, and civil liberties by elected leaders.

Group grievance

A measure in the Fragile States Index reflecting tensions or grievances among social groups.

Uneven development

Disparities in development outcomes across regions, groups, or countries.

Fragile States Index

A composite index assessing state fragility and resilience using governance, development, and security indicators.

Quintile ratio

The ratio of the income share of the richest 20% to the poorest 20% of a population.

Gini index

A measure of income inequality; 0 indicates perfect equality and higher values indicate more inequality.

Poverty

Share of people living on less than a specified threshold (commonly $2 per day in the notes’ context).

Life satisfaction

A self-reported measure of overall well-being on a 1–10 scale.

Coefficient of human inequality (CHI)

A UNDP metric of inequality in human development across population groups; higher values indicate greater inequality.

Women percent parliament

The share of seats in national parliament held by women.

Democracy index

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s score of a country’s democracy (0–10 scale; higher is more democratic).

GDP per capita

Gross domestic product divided by the population; average economic output per person.