Deck 5: Unofficial Actors and Their Roles in Public Policy

Question 1

Policy makers often use ______________ as a way of floating "trial balloons" to assess the reaction of the public to certain policy issues.

A)the media
B)other policy makers
C)focus groups
D)community forums

Answer 1

the media

Question 2

Material inducements to join are most closely associated with which unofficial actors?

A)think tanks
B)news media
C)interest groups
D)political parties

Answer 2

interest groups

Question 3

Which of these statements is true?

A)Voting turnout is always lower for congressional elections than for presidential elections.
B)Voting turnout is always higher for congressional elections than for presidential elections.
C)Voting turnout for presidential and congressional elections is roughly equal.
D)None of the above are true.

Answer 3

Voting turnout is always lower for congressional elections than for presidential elections.

Question 4

Of the following forms of political participation in the United States, in which form do Americans most often engage?

A)Joining an interest group.
B)Voting.
C)Writing to members of Congress or state legislatures.
D)Mass protests and rallies.

Question 5

Political Parties perform all of the following functions except

A)organize the legislative branch
B)provide voters with cues for voting
C)help elected officials and their supporters create packages of policy ideas to appeal to voters
D)provide a way of transmitting preferences from the electorate to the elected branches
E)All of the above activities are undertaken by political parties

Question 6

Searching for a branch of government that would serve as the most likely forum for a particular policy proposal is an example of

A)deliberative government.
B)coalition building.
C)agenda setting.
D)venue shopping.

Question 7

The news media threaten iron triangles and other tightly knit policy subsystems by

A)providing information to the members of the iron triangle.
B)devolving government.
C)Opening the iron triangle or subsystem to broader participation from those who may have been excluded from the process.
D)Explaining the differences between conditions and problems in the public policy making process.

Question 8

What is the key barrier to interest group growth and success?

A)Legal prohibitions against forming various types of interest groups.
B)he amount of time, effort, and expense it takes to create an effective interest group.
C)Poor media coverage of issues of importance to Americans.
D)Our federal system of government, which makes it hard to form interest groups.

Question 9

The mutually reinforcing relationship between a congressional subcommittee, a federal agency and regulated interest groups is known as the _____________model of policy relationships.

A)triple play
B)iron triangle
C)iron cross
D)golden triangle
E)iron network

Question 10

The policy network that has the most influence in setting a particular policy is known as a _________

A)stealth government.
B)subgovernment.
C)undergovernment.
D)research triangle.
E)steel triangle.

Question 11

There are over ______ political parties in the US

A)25
B)50
C)75
D)100

Question 12

The substantive area of policy over which participants in policy making compete and compromise is known as

A)the policy community.
B)the iron triangle.
C)an issue network.
D)a policy domain.
E)None of the above.

Question 13

Which of the following is not a component of an Iron Triangle?

A)an executive regulatory agency
B)interest groups.
C)a congressional subcommittee
D)a political party

Question 14

Which of the following is an example of an institutional interest group?

A)Organization on a college campus
B)The National Rifle Association
C)The American Civil Liberties Union
D)The Sierra Club

Question 15

Group mobilization refers to the idea that

A)groups mount big get-out-the-vote campaigns.
B)people are apathetic and never get involved in policy making.
C)people can be persuaded to care about issues and become more active in discussions of politics and policy.
D)most people are always politically active and engaged in group politics in some way.

Question 16

People belong to institutional interest groups by virtue of

A)having joined and paid dues.
B)being a member of a profession.
C)being a member of an institution such as a university.
D)having an economic interest in the outcome of policy decisions.

Question 17

People belong to economic interest groups by virtue of

A)having joined and paid dues.
B)being a member of a profession.
C)joining an institution such as a university .
D)having an economic interest in the outcome of policy decisions.

Question 18

Which of the following is considered an actor in a policy community?

A)Elected officials
B)News media
C)Interest groups
D)All of the above

Question 19

People belong to membership interest groups by virtue of

A)having joined and paid dues.
B)being a member of a profession.
C)joining an institution such as a university.
D)having an economic interest in the outcome of policy decisions.

Question 20

Interest groups that are made to look like "grassroots" groups, but are really created by a larger interest group to create the illusion of grassroots support, are called

A)astroturf groups.
B)field turf groups.
C)public interest groups.
D)popular movements.

Question 21

From what medium do most Americans get their news?

A)Magazines
B)Newspapers
C)Television
D)The internet

Question 22

What platform is quickly closing in on television as the most used for news consumption?

A)The internet
B)Radio
C)Podcasts
D)Newspapers

Question 23

To the extent that there are "biases" in most news outlets, these biases are best attributed to:

A)the ideological preferences of owners.
B)the competitive, economic, and organizational logic of news gathering itself.
C)the ideological preferences of reporters.
D)misinformation provided the media by government and business.

Question 24

The term "fake news" became prevalent during the election of which U.S. President?

A)George W.Bush
B)Bill Clinton
C)Barack Obama
D)Donald J.Trump

Question 25

Explain how the news media serve as a watchdog. Who is it "watching"? Why are they watching? Why is this important?

Question 26

What does it mean that citizens can be "mobilized?"

Question 27

Explain the difference between an institutional interest group and a membership group. Give an example of each group.

Question 28

Define and explain economic interest groups.

Question 29

Who were "muckraking" journalists?

Question 30

List two goals associated with think tanks.

Question 31

What are the two key differences between think tanks and interest groups?

Question 32

What is the difference between membership interest groups and institutional interest groups?

Question 33

Why do some people say that interest groups are bad?

Question 34

Provide a contemporary or historical example of mobilization around a public policy issue. Explain who mobilized, what the group's goals were, and what the outcomes were (remember, not all mobilizations are entirely successful!).

Question 35

What are some reasons why political parties are important in the policy process?

Question 36

Are there any significant social movements today? Why or why not?

Question 37

Explain why people have negative attitudes toward lobbyists and the very idea of lobbying.

Question 38

Explain how investigative journalism-or muckraking-can influence public policy.

Question 39

Do you think the decline in newspaper circulation means that people have less information available to them to participate in the policy process? Why or why not?

Question 40

What is an "echo chamber" or, "filter bubble?"

Question 41

The news carried on the internet generally comes from traditional print and broadcast sources.

Question 42

Even with the internet, the public is generally at an information disadvantage compared with government officials and policy insiders.

Question 43

Concentrated corporate ownership of the news media has been shown to lead to ideological bias in news reporting.

Question 44

Peak associations are the largest, most influential groups in a policy domain.

Question 45

According to Kingdon, the news media are the most important sources of information for all policy makers.

Question 46

Contributing money to a political candidate, who may then support your policy preferences, is a form of free speech that is protected under the Constitution.

Question 47

Groups often turn to litigation-suing the government or other actors-because it is the most effective tool for seeking policy change.

Question 48

In the United States, "Freedom of the press" refers to printed material, and to speech, broadcasting, and publishing on the internet.

Question 49

Lobbying is a constitutionally protected right under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Question 50

Lobbying is important in the policy process because lobbyists provide important information to officials in the legislative and executive branches.

Question 51

Political parties are not official actors.

Question 52

Problems are not made self-evident by simply providing indicators of the problem. .

Question 53

The formation of interest groups is a constitutionally protected right.

Question 54

The National Rifle Association is a membership group.

Question 55

Because the news media have such limited influence on the agenda, interest groups avoid using the news media to further their political agenda.

Question 56

Hugh Heclo argues that the iron triangles of bureaucrats, congressional committees, and client groups continue to dominate policy making.

Question 57

Lobbying, mobilizing members, and direct action are all activities used by think tanks to enhance their influence.

Question 58

Most think tanks are directly associated with a political ideology.

Question 59

Problems become self-evident after looking at statistical indicators of problems indicators. .

Question 60

Subgovernments consist only of the federal agencies that regulate a particular policy area.

Question 61

The National Rifle Association is an official actor.

Question 62

The news media simply hold up a mirror to society, without making any judgments about the relative importance of issues.

Question 63

Television broadcast news has been identified as the main platform for disseminating "fake news"

Question 64

In considering news media, what does the old expression "if it bleeds, it leads" mean?