Deck 13: Executives and Bureaucracies

Question 1

President Franklin Roosevelt's management style was aimed at __________.

A)giving him direct control over every major executive agency
B)ensuring that his administration was well organized and efficient
C)convincing the public that he was an expert on every important issue
D)ensuring that he did not have to make every decision for his administration

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A prime minister is most likely to use his or her power to dissolve parliament when __________.

A)the executive branch is in disarray
B)the economy is experiencing a major downturn
C)there has been a scandal involving one of the cabinet ministers
D)the country is prosperous and job performance ratings are high

Answer 2

D

Question 3

What was the main purpose of the cohabitation arrangement between the executive and legislative branches in France's parliamentary system?

A)to reduce the likelihood of corruption among high officials
B)to minimize conflict between the two houses of the legislature
C)to enable the president to check the power of the legislature over domestic policy
D)to enable a president and a prime minister from different parties to govern together

Answer 3

D

Question 4

How many years is the presidential term in France?

A)two
B)four
C)five
D)six

Question 5

Which statement explains why parliamentary systems have an advantage over presidential systems should a person of dubious character win executive power?

A)A president can never be removed from office before his term expires.
B)A president is very difficult to remove before his term of office expires.
C)A president has direct control over the salaries of both bureaucrats and legislators.
D)A president loses his position if his party does not hold a majority in the legislature.

Question 6

What is considered the "trump card" for a democracy?

A)the electoral college
B)divided government
C)electoral punishment
D)impeachment and removal

Question 7

Which statement explains why efforts by Congress to restore the balance between the legislative and executive branches have mostly failed?

A)The federal judiciary tends to favor a high level of executive power.
B)Executive officials enjoy more discretionary power than members of Congress.
C)Partisan conflict prevents Congress from passing even the most basic of legislation.
D)The American public approves of presidents more highly than it approves of Congress.

Question 8

An increasingly important factor in both presidential and parliamentary elections is a candidate's __________.

A)personality
B)economic policy record
C)positions on social issues
D)executive leadership experience

Question 9

A critic of President Carter's leadership style would most likely accept which of these claims?

A)Presidents must come to office prepared to push an ambitious agenda on Congress.
B)The president has a responsibility to carefully oversee everything done by his administration.
C)In order to be successful,a president must be able to rely on skilled and trustworthy advisors.
D)The president,more than any other public official,has to maintain an image of consummate expertise.

Question 10

President Eisenhower managed the perception of his administration by __________.

A)allowing Congress to take the lead on most issues
B)projecting a relaxed persona while working hard to make good decisions
C)focusing only on issues that opinion polls showed were important to the public
D)creating a chaotic environment among his advisors to make himself look more calm

Question 11

Which type of leader is best equipped to handle the high expectations that the public places on presidents and prime ministers?

A)someone adept at media relations
B)someone who seems like a regular person
C)someone with a large amount of legislative experience
D)someone with the energy to oversee the activities of a large number of subordinates

Question 12

In the United States,the president is both chief of government and __________.

A)chancellor
B)head of state
C)secretary of state
D)speaker of the house

Question 13

How can the chancellor of Germany be ousted?

A)The Bundestag can impeach the chancellor.
B)The Bundestag can hold a vote of no confidence.
C)The Bundestag can vote in a replacement cabinet.
D)The Bundestag can vote to hold a national referendum.

Question 14

President Nixon's decision to impound appropriations made by Congress could be used as evidence to support which of these arguments?

A)The American presidency has grown too powerful.
B)Legislative deadlock necessitates an activist presidency.
C)The U.S.Constitution expects too much of the president.
D)Executive privilege is an essential feature of the checks and balances system.

Question 15

Who receives the most attention in both parliamentary and presidential systems?

A)the legislature
B)the head of state
C)the majority party
D)the chief executive

Question 16

Which of these mistakes is the public most likely to make in relation to its chief executive?

A)accepting that he or she is relatively powerless over policy-making outcomes
B)believing that he or she can solve all of the country's major problems singlehandedly
C)believing that he or she needs to be the hardest working person in the entire government
D)accepting that he or she does not need to abide by the same moral code as everyone else

Question 17

In the German parliamentary system,what is the main purpose of a constructive vote of no confidence?

A)to increase the stability of Germany government
B)to ensure that the minority always has a say in German policy
C)to keep the German Chancellor directly accountable to the people
D)to bolster the strength of the opposition when negotiating with the government

Question 18

How does the process a parliamentary system uses to oust a chief executive differ from that available in the United States?

A)The prime minister can dissolve parliament rather than resigning from office.
B)Parliamentary systems rely on the political system instead of the legal system.
C)Parliamentary systems use a national referendum rather than the electoral college.
D)Parliamentary systems can hold a vote of no confidence instead of using the impeachment process.

Question 19

A minister in a parliamentary system is equivalent to a __________ in the United States.

A)premier
B)head of state
C)chief of government
D)departmental secretary

Question 20

Semi-presidential systems differ from parliamentary systems because they __________.

A)tend to be less stable
B)bring small parties into power
C)have both a president and a prime minister
D)result in frequent and unpredictable elections

Question 21

Which factor sustained the strength of the Japanese bureaucracy during the pre- and post-World War II periods?

A)bureaucrats' deferral to the military
B)the imperial family's distrust of democracy
C)bureaucrats' condescension towards politicians 
D)the public's acceptance of free-market capitalism

Question 22

A U.S.president is most likely to look to members of the cabinet for __________.

A)help campaigning for re-election
B)advice on a foreign policy crisis
C)assistance in forming a legislative agenda
D)reports on the effectiveness of the bureaucracy

Question 23

Electoral punishment is a potential remedy to the __________.

A)increasing size of bureaucracies
B)steady growth in executive power
C)prevalence of a hands-off leadership style
D)high expectations the public has for its chief executive

Question 24

In what way is the bureaucracy in the United States different from most other bureaucracies in the world?

A)It operates in a strictly hierarchical fashion.
B)It is made up primarily of the president's supporters.
C)It has a greater amount of influence over policy makers.
D)It has more layers at the top made up of political appointees.

Question 25

In a democracy,the public is most likely to approve of a chief executive who __________.

A)displays boundless energy
B)appears relaxed yet in control
C)demonstrates expertise in many fields
D)has tight control over every aspect of the administration

Question 26

Which of these is someone who is most likely to become a cabinet minister in Great Britain?

A)a lawyer with years of private-sector experience in a single field
B)a longtime politician who has displayed loyalty to his or her party
C)a successful entrepreneur with political connections to the ruling party
D)a longtime advisor of the prime minister who hopes to run for office someday

Question 27

How is the Roman Catholic Church bureaucratic in an ideal sense?

A)The Pope,in most cases,serves until death.
B)The Roman Catholic Church controls vast wealth.
C)The Roman Catholic Church has a clear chain of command.
D)The Roman Catholic Church is very old and has very deep traditions.

Question 28

Which statement explains how the cabinet grows larger as the United States expands?

A)The Constitution must be amended.
B)The president creates a new department with an executive order.
C)Congress and the president agree to create and fund a new department.
D)A cabinet secretary divides the department into two distinct departments.

Question 29

Under a parliamentary system,the cabinet is __________.

A)directly elected by the voters
B)more powerful than the prime minister
C)a source of overlap between the executive and legislative branches
D)kept small to ensure that the legislature exercises most policy-making power

Question 30

Which of these is a difference between the U.S.Cabinet and cabinets in Europe?

A)the central role played by the vice president
B)the public's perception of how important it is
C)the level of expertise generally held by its members
D)the amount of control the chief executive exercises over its structure

Question 31

In what sense are bureaucracies "inherently conservative"?

A)Bureaucrats tend to vote Republican.
B)Bureaucrats generally support smaller government.
C)Bureaucrats are generally reluctant to change their ways.
D)Bureaucrats are mainly drawn from the middle and upper classes of society.

Question 32

What was a consequence of making top Soviet bureaucrats a privileged elite?

A)The Soviet bureaucracy was very conservative.
B)It was very easy to reform the bureaucracy when communism ended.
C)The Soviet bureaucracy was better able to protect the interests of the general public.
D)Soviet bureaucrats worked harder and were more efficient than bureaucrats in Western democracies.

Question 33

A cabinet member in the United States is most likely to have __________.

A)ambitions to run for president at some point in the future
B)an independent source of funding for his or her department
C)significant experience working with Congressional committees
D)ideas about policy that are at odds with the leadership of his or her party

Question 34

Which of these statements best explains why Stalin's Five Year Plans strengthened the Soviet bureaucracy?

A)They resulted in significant changes to Russian society.
B)They required a high level of management to carry out.
C)They distributed privileges unequally throughout society.
D)They required expertise available only from foreign advisors.

Question 35

A chain of command improves a bureaucracy by __________.

A)establishing clear consequences for dissent
B)protecting bureaucrats from frivolous lawsuits
C)making bureaucrats more accountable to voters
D)creating a sense of uniformity and predictability

Question 36

Which factor has done the most to limit the size and growth of the U.S.Cabinet?

A)the legislative check on executive power
B)the reluctance of presidents to share power
C)the stability of the American political system
D)the anti-government sentiment of the American public

Question 37

Each division of government in a parliamentary system is headed by a __________.

A)presidential aide
B)cabinet minister
C)legislative committee
D)member of the upper house

Question 38

In a parliamentary system,members of the cabinet are typically __________.

A)experts drawn from the private sector
B)personal friends of the prime minister
C)wealthy individuals with political connections
D)successful and loyal members of the ruling party

Question 39

Someone who characterizes the members of the U.S.cabinet as "vice presidents in charge of spending" is implying that cabinet members in the United States __________.

A)routinely spend too much money
B)play a primarily administrative role
C)are capable of doing the vice president's job
D)are all accomplished politicians in their own right

Question 40

Which country referred to its state nobility as the Junkers?

A)Britain
B)France
C)Prussia
D)Russia

Question 41

Which of the following supports the need for reform of Japan's bureaucracy?

A)Japanese civil servants retire at young ages.
B)Some believe that "no one is in charge" in Japan.
C)The vice minister has more power than the minister.
D)Bureaucratic supervision has led to a flat economy after decades of economic prosperity.

Question 42

Which country became the least corrupt Latin American country by cutting back on its number of bureaucrats?

A)Argentina
B)Brazil
C)Chile
D)Peru

Question 43

In 1870,Britain established a merit civil service that focused on competitive exams over patronage to combat issues of nepotism and corruption within the bureaucracy.

Question 44

Which of these statements about regulations and bureaucracy is true?

A)A large,strong bureaucracy is the best guarantee against corruption within the political system.
B)The public tends to accept the necessity of large bureaucracies for effectively regulating the market.
C)The potential for corruption increases with the number of regulations and the size of the bureaucracy.
D)The level of regulation and the size of the bureaucracy are proportional to the power of elected officials.

Question 45

Parkinson's Law states that procrastination makes work take at least twice as long as necessary.

Question 46

In which of these systems do bureaucrats enjoy the most power relative to elected officials?

A)France
B)Germany
C)Japan
D)the United States

Question 47

Which of these is more likely to occur in a one-party regime than in a democratic country?

A)Bureaucratic regulation of private behavior is kept to a minimum.
B)Political officials have an easy time reigning in the power of bureaucracies.
C)Corrupt bureaucrats receive understanding and forgiveness from the public.
D)Members of the bureaucracy enjoy privileges that are not available to most citizens.

Question 48

Parkinson's Law best explains which of these phenomena?

A)Bureaucrats tend to claim that they have no power over the law.
B)As the number of regulations and bureaucrats increases,corruption increases.
C)Political appointees and permanent civil servants view the policy-making process differently.
D)The number of regulations enforced by bureaucracies tends to increase rather than decrease.

Question 49

In a presidential system,a deadlock refers to the executive and legislative branches blocking each other.

Question 50

Congress possesses the ability to increase the powers of the executive branch.

Question 51

President Reagan was considered a hands-off president.

Question 52

As the primus inter pares,the prime minister cannot dismiss any ministers in his or her cabinet unless he or she appointed them.

Question 53

The U.S.military is a bureaucratic system.

Question 54

How does the French bureaucracy compare to the American bureaucracy?

A)It is more despised by the public.
B)It is stronger and more entrenched.
C)It is more vulnerable to downsizing.
D)It is more easily controlled by elected officials.

Question 55

A reformer who wanted to make his or her country more democratic would be most likely to attack the bureaucracy's __________.

A)tendency to grow in size
B)share of government spending
C)merit-based promotion structure
D)active role in the policy-making process

Question 56

How are Germany's bureaucrats different from those of the U.S.and Britain?

A)German bureaucrats do not have a background in law,while those in the U.S.and Britain are usually lawyers.
B)German bureaucrats are usually lawyers,while those in the U.S.and Britain do not have a background in law.
C)German bureaucrats believe that the law is flexible,whereas those in the U.S.and Britain see it as a set system of codes.
D)German bureaucrats believe the law is a set system of codes,while those in the U.S.and Britain see common law as more flexible.

Question 57

In the United States,cabinet members are elected officials.

Question 58

Congress created the Department of Homeland Security in response to a threatened military invasion.

Question 59

Which statement best explains the difficulty that legislators have cutting government expenditures for bureaucracies?

A)Cabinet ministers work hard.
B)A majority of the workforce in many countries works for the bureaucracy.
C)Cabinet ministers work hard to maintain and expand their departmental budget.
D)The public tends to value the skills of bureaucrats more than the promises of politicians.

Question 60

President Franklin Roosevelt expected his advisors to agree with each other and with him.