Deck 14: The Bureaucracy

Question 1

The GS system

A) Establishes a meritocracy for government workers
B) Operates fairly and efficiently
C) Ensures step-wise salary increases on a regular basis
D) Shows how bloated the bureaucracy has become

Answer 1

Establishes a meritocracy for government workers

Question 2

Government corporations

A) Occupy a middle ground between the public and private sectors
B) Shift responsibility for a government task to a nonpartisan arena in hopes of keeping it insulated from politics
C) Make sure essential services are provided to all citizens or at very low cost
D) All of the above

Answer 2

All of the above

Question 3

____ occurs when work is assigned according to a task specialization.

A) Organization centralization
B) Inefficiency
C) Profitability
D) Division of labor

Answer 3

Division of labor

Question 4

According to the notion of neutral competence, what function does the bureaucracy perform?

A) Decide public policy
B) Implement public policy
C) Take sides
D) Appropriate funds for public policies

Question 5

Which of the following was the most recently created agency in the Executive Office of the President?

A) Department of Homeland Security
B) National Security Council
C) Council of Economic Advisers
D) Drug Enforcement Agency

Question 6

"The single most important function performed by agencies of government" is

A) amending laws.
B) adjudication.
C) rule making.
D) lobbying.

Question 7

Through implementation decisions, _______ are active in the initiation of new policies and actively participate in the broader political process.

A) congressional committees
B) lobbyists
C) interest groups
D) bureaucracies

Question 8

The problem with fire alarm oversight is

A) there is too much bureaucratic incompetence and corruption for any single legislator to keep up with.
B) bureaucracies rarely exercise their rulemaking authority , making it difficult for a legislator to assess bureaucratic intent.
C) the costs outweigh the benefits because most of the times bureaucracies do what that are supposed to do .
D) it is reactive instead of proactive.

Question 9

Public bureaucracies derive their policymaking authority from

A) delegated legislative authority.
B) quasi-judicial authority.
C) The Civil Service Commission.
D) implied powers.

Question 10

Congressional willingness to grant policy making authority to agencies stems partly from their

A) neutral competence.
B) expertise.
C) presidential appointment.
D) representativeness.

Question 11

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

A) requires agencies to hold open meetings.
B) was vetoed by Nixon, who claimed it violated "executive privilege".
C) allows people to obtain information from agencies, provided it is not classified or concerned with matters of national security.
D) preserves and extends free speech rights for all internet use.

Question 12

Court-like proceedings in which agencies enforce laws and regulations are an example of

A) executive orders.
B) regulations.
C) adjudication.
D) administration.

Question 13

The advantages or organizing public agencies along bureaucratic lines include

A) stability.
B) impartiality.
C) predictability.
D) all of these.

Question 14

_______ established the first merit system for the federal bureaucracy.

A) Andrew Jackson
B) The Pendleton Act
C) Franklin Roosevelt
D) The Garfield Rule

Question 15

Which of the following is at the top of the executive branch hierarchy?

A) Cabinet departments
B) Independent agencies
C) Advisory committees
D) The Executive Office of the President

Question 16

The merit system is based on

A) political loyalty.
B) patronage.
C) demonstrated ability or expertise.
D) all of these choices.

Question 17

A public agency that makes decisions based solely on its technical expertise is an example of

A) patronage.
B) neutral competence.
C) technical policy.
D) neutral politics.

Question 18

The federal bureaucracy

A) is centralized under the Executive Office of the President.
B) is government by centralized boards of control in each branch of government.
C) is overseen by Congress.
D) consists of numerous departments, independent agencies, and advisory committees.

Question 19

Public and private bureaucracies differ mainly in

A) their underlying goals.
B) their organizational characteristics.
C) their general approach to the division of labor.
D) All of the above.

Question 20

The practice of staffing government bureaucracies on the basis of political connections and political loyalty is known as

A) the merit system.
B) the good old boy network.
C) the spoils system.
D) the bureaucratic system.

Question 21

Overhead democracy requires elected officials to

A) engage in rulemaking.
B) adjudicate.
C) exercise their oversight responsibilities.
D) occasionally monitor elected officials.

Question 22

The stereotype that the federal bureaucracy is ineffective and incompetent

A) is generally supported by systematic research.
B) is true for agencies that administer welfare programs, but not true for the Foreign Service and the military.
C) is largely inaccurate.
D) was accurate until President George W. Bush reformed the federal government to run like a business.

Question 23

One source of bureaucratic power is

A) party politics.
B) bureaucratic expertise.
C) political alliance with the president.
D) budget control.

Question 24

Organizing public agencies along bureaucratic lines helps ensure

A) efficiency.
B) equal treatment.
C) profitability.
D) all of these.

Question 25

The principal-agent model is

A) based on the notion that the primary role of the bureaucracy is to implement the mandates issued to it by its political principals (e.g., Congress, the president).
B) a way for the president to control the bureaucracy by selecting the people who will head its agencies.
C) a way to make government bureaucracies more efficient.
D) a way to ensure fair treatment and protect constitutional rights similar to the way school principals are supposed to enforce rules fairly.

Question 26

An agency that is seeking to ascertain whether an organization violated a rule is engaged in the process of

A) lawmaking.
B) adjudication.
C) legislating.
D) rulemaking.

Question 27

Systematically monitoring bureaucracy to ensure that it is acting in accordance with democratically expressed preferences is

A) fire alarm oversight.
B) Police patrol oversight.
C) adjudication.
D) none of the above.

Question 28

A Congressional hearing called in response to evidence of bureaucratic wrongdoing is an example of

A) police patrol oversight.
B) adjudication.
C) barn door oversight.
D) fire alarm oversight.

Question 29

Executive branch agencies tasked with the responsibility of implementing public policy are collectively known as

A) the bureaucracy.
B) the Executive Office of the President.
C) the Congressional Budget Office.
D) the General Accounting Office

Question 30

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) exemplify which of the following characteristics of bureaucracy?

A) Division of labor
B) Professionalization
C) Formal rules
D) Hierarchy

Question 31

Bureaucratic appointments made based on political connections rather than skills and qualifications exemplify which of the following?

A) The spoils system
B) The civil service system
C) The merit system
D) Neutral competence

Question 32

Bureaucratic appointments made based on technical expertise and skills rather than political allegiances are an example of

A) the spoils system.
B) the merit system.
C) patronage.
D) nepotism.

Question 33

The president's most influential advisors and agencies comprise the

A) Executive Office of the President (EOP).
B) Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
C) White House Office.
D) State Department.

Question 34

Federally established businesses that are at least partly self-supporting are known as

A) independent agencies.
B) government corporations.
C) regulatory agencies.
D) cabinet departments.

Question 35

The process by which regulatory agencies decide what the laws passed by Congress mean and how they should be carried out is called a

A) rulemaking.
B) adjudication.
C) judicial review.
D) fire alarm oversight.

Question 36

The term used to refer to the interdependent relationship among the bureaucracy, interest groups, and congressional committees is

A) clientele groups.
B) issue networks.
C) iron triangles.
D) political action committees (PACs).

Question 37

Herbert Simon's theory that humans are not "utility maximizers" is known as

A) rational choice .
B) the collective action problem.
C) game theory.
D) bounded rationality.

Question 38

If a bureaucratic agency decides to adopt a policy approach that is merely acceptable, rather than optimal, then it is

A) maximizing utility.
B) minimizing utility.
C) adopting a "mini-max" strategy.
D) satisficing.

Question 39

When elected officials, who are chosen by the people, conduct bureaucratic oversight, they are engaging in

A) overhead democracy.
B) stealth democracy.
C) interbranch meddling.
D) pluralism.

Question 40

The active oversight of the bureaucracy by elected officials to make sure that agency performance is meeting public expectations is known as

A) fire alarm oversight.
B) Police patrol oversight.
C) ambulance chaser oversight.
D) the public advocate role.

Question 41

Reactive oversight of the bureaucracy, in which elected officials only check up on agency performance when there is evidence of wrongdoing, is known as

A) fire alarm oversight.
B) Police patrol oversight.
C) ambulance chaser oversight.
D) the public advocate role.

Question 42

When a regulatory agency seems to identify more closely with the industry it is regulating than with the interests of the people, it is an example of

A) iron triangles.
B) policy subsystems.
C) agency capture.
D) overhead democracy.

Question 43

A ___________________ is a measure that gives Congress the ability to reject an action or decision of the bureaucracy.

A) legislative mandate
B) legislative veto
C) rule
D) cloture vote

Question 44

All of the following are problems identified within the principal-agent model EXCEPT:

A) Transparency.
B) Adverse selection.
C) Multiple principals.
D) Moral hazard.

Question 45

In general, the bureaucracy does a good job at a relatively low cost to the American taxpayer.

Question 46

Government bureaucracies are largely responsible for the performance of the governing/political system.

Question 47

Federal bureaucracies are political institutions.

Question 48

The term "street level bureaucrat" reflects the power of lower-level bureaucrats to informally define policy through their enforcement decisions.

Question 49

The bureaucracy cannot reasonably be considered a "fourth branch of government" because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution.

Question 50

The five characteristics of bureaucracy developed by Weber apply only to public (i.e., government) bureaucracies.

Question 51

The assassination of President Garfield was a major political factor in the passage of the Pendleton Act, which formally ended the "spoils system."

Question 52

Unlike the elected branches of government, American bureaucracy is remarkable for its racial and gender diversity, which is an almost perfect reflection of the U.S. population

Question 53

NASA is a federal agency under the authority of the Department of Defense, reflecting its mission of developing military superiority in space.

Question 54

Unelected bureaucrats working in regulatory agencies have the power to issue rules that carry the force of law and to enforce those rules in court-like proceedings that determine guilt and impose punishments.

Question 55

Because members of Congress have powerful electoral incentives to ensure that their laws are being implemented as intended, "police patrol" oversight is the most common approach to oversight of the bureaucracy.