AP Gov Unit 2B sec. 3 part 2

Partisan

designed to favor a political party

Policy Implementation

stage of policymaking between establishment of policy and its consequences for the people affected, involves translating objectives into an ongoing/operating system, when the bureaucracy carries out decisions of congress/the president/courts

Bureaucratic Discretion

the way in which the bureaucracy chooses to engage in policy implementation

Bureaucracies as Policy Implementors

policy is not self-executing so they must turn policy into working programs, works out the details of the program/policy too

3 Elements of Policy Implementation

creation of new agency/assign responsibility to old agency (law passed by Congress), translate new policy goals into operational rules of thumb (steps) and development of guidelines, coordination of resources/finances and personnel to achieve goals

Reasons for Break-Downs in Implementation

faulty program design, lack of clarity, lack of resources, administrative routine, administrators' dispositions, and fragmentation

Operating Procedures

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

Administrative Routine

follow standard operating procedures, uniformity and fairness, but could be too general for some policies

Administrators' Dispositions

authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem, very inconsistent and could involve administrative discretion

Street-Level Bureaucrats

those who are in constant contact with the public and have considerable discretion

Fragmentation

responsibility for a policy is sometimes dispersed among several units within the bureaucracy, time-consuming, difficult, and sometimes contradictory

Privatization

effort to decentralize authority and provide performance incentives through market competition and competitive public vs. private bidding on government services, competition of who can provide the cheapest service

Contracting Theory

will result in better service at lower costs economically due to specialization

Critics Idea of Privatization

no evidence that it is more efficient, competition is not always present, almost always leads to less public scrutiny

Public Scrutiny

process of subjecting research to public examination and evaluation to ensure transparency and ethical oversight, do not have to reveal everything to the public

Everyday Government Regulation

use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector, mostly done in the public interest

Everyday Agency Regulation

very controversial, have broad mandates to regulate activities given to them by Congress

Munn v. Illinois

1877, supreme court upheld the right of government to regulate the business operation of a firm, the right of the state of Illinois to regulate the charges/services of a Chicago warehouse

Interstate Commerce Commission

1887, first regulatory agency, set precedent for regulatory policymaking

Agency Guidelines Aspects

grant of power/set of directions from Congress, set of rules/guidelines by regulatory agency itself, some means of enforcing compliance with congressional goals and agency regulations

Situations that Agencies Apply/Enforce Guidelines

wait for complaints to come, send inspectors into a field, require applicants for a permit or license to demonstrate performance consistent with Congressional goals/agency rules

Command and Control Policy

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

Incentive System

an alternative to command and control, with market-like strategies such as rewards used to manage public policy

Deregulation

idea that number and complexity of regulatory policies have made regulation too complex and burdensome

Regulation Critics

favor deregulation, believe regulation raises prices, hurts America's competitive position abroad, and does not always work well

Deregulation Critics

favor regulation, believe deregulation causes severe environmental damage resulting from less enforcement, takes some blame for expensive bailout of savings and loan industry

Presidential Methods of Bureaucracy Control

appoint right people to head the agency, issue executive orders to agencies, tinker with agency budgets, reorganize agencies

Congressional Methods of Bureaucracy Control

less direct due to ambivalent relationship, hard to control, influence appointment of agency heads, tinker with agency's budget (power of the purse), hold hearings (legislative oversight), and rewrite legislation/make more detailed

Iron Triangle

when agencies, groups, and committees all depend on one another and are in close, frequent contact, mutually dependent, adds strong decentralizing/fragmenting element, overlaid with issue networks

Role of Iron Triangles

dominate some areas of domestic policymaking by combining internal consensus with virtual monopoly on local information

Mutual Dependency

each element provides key services, information, and policy for the other