Deck 11: Bureaucracy: Redesigning Government for the Twenty-First Century

Question 1

Appointing campaign contributors without the necessary credentials to key jobs in the bureaucracy could be an example of ___.

A) merit hiring
B) patronage
C) civil service screening
D) bureaucratic employment

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Regulatory commissions are composed of ___.

A) single executives
B) state governors
C) bi-partisan boards
D) legislative committees

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which one of the following is a tool for judicial oversight of bureaucratic agencies?

A) court orders
B) hearings before Congress
C) executive orders
D) All of the above

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What is bureaucracy?

A) A hierarchical organization in which offices have specified missions and employees are assigned responsibilities based on merit, knowledge, and experience
B) An egalitarian organization in which offices have generalized missions and employees are assigned responsibilities based on patronage, seniority, and personality skills
C) A hierarchical organization in which offices have specified missions and employees are assigned responsibilities based on patronage, seniority, and personality skills
D) A democratic organization in which offices has patriotic responsibilities based on service, dedication to duty, and mission statement

Question 5

What federal bureaucratic system did the Pendleton Act of 1883 replace?

A) The federal reserve system
B) The patronage system
C) The civil service system
D) Both of the last two options

Question 6

Who is credited with ushering in the "spoils system"?

A) Andrew Jackson
B) Abraham Lincoln
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) Martin Van Buren

Question 7

Mid-nineteenth-century bureaucratic growth was due in large part to the American government's interests in doing what?

A) Offsetting the nascent labor movement
B) Following political trends begun in the Civil War
C) Promoting economic development
D) Promoting political development

Question 8

Which segment of the transportation economy was the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) established to regulate?

A) Steamships
B) Ironclads
C) Railroads
D) Trucks

Question 9

When did the federal government become directly involved in re-distributional politics?

A) It never did.
B) During the Great Depression
C) During the Reagan Revolution
D) During the Great Society

Question 10

What differentiates a bureaucrat from other types of government officials like elected office holders or political appointees?

A) The size of their salaries
B) The amount of responsibility they have
C) The nature of their employment: bureaucrats are temporary and the others are permanent
D) The nature of their employment: bureaucrats are permanent and the others are temporary

Question 11

From the Let's Compare section, what is the relative size of the governmental workforce in the United States compared to similarly constituted countries?

A) It is larger
B) It is smaller
C) It is about the same

Question 12

The structure of the national bureaucracy includes what three elements?

A) Cabinet departments, regulatory agencies, and government corporations
B) Cabinet departments, regulatory commissions and government boards
C) Cabinet departments, regulatory agencies and government commissions
D) All of the above

Question 13

Define regulatory commissions.

A) Commissions headed by bipartisan boards charged with developing, implementing, and adjudicating policy in their area of responsibility
B) The same thing as a government commission
C) Any minor board that provides access to government for specific interests
D) Any government corporation organized and administered for major undertakings

Question 14

What was the spoils system prominent in the mid to late nineteenth century based on?

A) Nothing
B) Merit
C) Service
D) Patronage

Question 15

What is rulemaking as it applies to the bureaucracy?

A) It is a process of defining rules or standards that apply uniformly to classes of individuals, events, or activities
B) It is a process of defining rules or standards that apply differently to discrete individuals, events, or activities
C) It is a process of deconstructing extant rules or standards in order to displace them with improved versions
D) It is non-existent as a process associated with the bureaucracy, as it is strictly confined to the legislative branch at the federal level

Question 16

Which of these statements most accurately describes the nature and origin of the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946?

A) It was passed by executive order in order to define the nature and process of bureaucratic decision making
B) It was passed by the Congress in order to define the nature and process of bureaucratic decision making
C) It was passed by the Congress in order to maximize bureaucratic discretion in decision making
D) Both of the last two options

Question 17

What is administrative adjudication?

A) Procedures for resolution of issues on specific facts rather than general rules
B) Procedures for resolution of issues on general rules rather than specific facts
C) Procedures for resolution of issues on an across-the-board basis rather than on a case-by-case basis
D) Both of the last two options

Question 18

What is implementation as it relates to bureaucratic policy making?

A) The process of creating policy
B) The process of defining ideal policy outcomes
C) The process of making policy work in the real world
D) All of the above

Question 19

Define the civil service system?

A) The system for selecting draftees for the armed forces
B) The rules governing the armed forces
C) The rules governing civilian federal employees
D) The rules governing all federal government workers

Question 20

The Department of Commerce ___.

A) Was a part of the second wave of U.S. federal cabinet department creation
B) Is considered a "clientele department"
C) Was created prior to the Civil War
D) Both of the first two options

Question 21

The Federal Reserve is ___.

A) A service department
B) An independent regulatory commission
C) A government corporation
D) None of the above

Question 22

The Pendleton Act was passed in the wake of the assassination of which President?

A) Lincoln
B) Garfield
C) McKinley
D) Kennedy

Question 23

What was the third major development in the history of the federal bureaucracy?

A) The government as promoter of economic activity
B) The government as regulator of economic activity
C) The government as distributor of wealth and opportunity
D) The initial establishment of the federal bureaucracy

Question 24

Is the military the largest component of the federal workforce?

Question 25

Which of these was an original Cabinet-level department?

A) State
B) Interior
C) Federal Reserve
D) Securities and Exchange Commission

Question 26

What event spurred the establishment of the most recent Cabinet Level Department?

A) World War II
B) The Great Society
C) The Progressive Movement
D) 44815

Question 27

Prior to the Bush administration, when did the last major reorganization of the federal bureaucracy occur?

A) In the late 1940s
B) In the mid-1960s
C) In the late 1970s
D) In the late 1980s

Question 28

Which of the following are approaches Congress uses for overseeing the bureaucracy?

A) Police patrol and security guard patrol
B) Police patrol and fire alarm
C) Security patrol and combat patrol
D) Bounding and traveling over watch

Question 29

What do the three sources of executive control over the bureaucracy have the potential to do?

A) Enhance coordination and accountability in government
B) Limit coordination in order to facilitate accountability in government
C) Enhance coordination and limit congressional oversight of the government
D) Increase executive accountability while decreasing legislative dependence

Question 30

Do presidents choose the top officials of the executive bureaucracy alone?

A) Yes
B) No, the Senate must confirm many of the appointments
C) No, the House must confirm many of the appointments
D) Both of the last two options

Question 31

Which of the following enable(s) ordinary citizens to keep an eye on the bureaucracy?

A) Sunshine laws
B) Petitioning opportunities
C) Advisory committees
D) All of the above

Question 32

Which of the following makes efficient implementation of policy programs difficult?

A) Legislative directives are often overly precise and detailed, and thus leave too little room for bureaucratic discretion on how to achieve goals and handle particular cases
B) Responsibility for tasks is too often concentrated in the hands of just one agency in the bureaucracy. This tends to put undue pressure on the agency and undermines accountability
C) Much of what government does is hard to assess. For example, it is difficult to know just how effective a Head Start program is. This, in turn, makes it difficult to assess cost effectiveness
D) All of the above

Question 33

Eligibility for federal student aid is determined by a _______.

A) federal merit analysis
B) federal excellence analysis
C) federal need analysis
D) federal quality analysis

Question 34

For most wealthy countries, most growth in general government employment took place _______1990.

A) before
B) during
C) after
D) None of the above, since general government employment has never changed

Question 35

In 2016, administrative law judges heard _______disputes concerning Medicare services.

A) 860
B) 8600
C) 86000
D) 860000

Question 36

Republican presidents, including Donald Trump, have used their leverage over the bureaucracy to _______its intrusion into the private sector.

A) limit
B) maintain
C) advance
D) None of the above, since the president has no control over government bureaucracies

Question 37

Critics of the Federal Reserve Board have included President Trump and a ___.

A) Libertarian member of the House
B) Socialist member of the Senate
C) Both of the above
D) None of the above

Question 38

Which bureaucratic departments have the largest number of employees?

A) Department of Defense
B) Department of Veterans Affairs
C) Department of Housing and Urban Development
D) Department of State

Question 39

The Federal Reserve Board is ___, but ___.

A) subject to legislative reform over the longer term
B) not "independent" of Congress in the short-term
C) not subject to legislative reform over the longer term
D) "independent" of Congress in the short-term

Question 40

Historically, independent regulatory commissions were ___, ___.

A) not assigned technical policy areas where expertise was to govern
B) with at least some insulation against partisan politics
C) assigned technical policy areas where expertise was to govern
D) without at least some insulation against partisan politics

Question 41

The Trump administration claimed that a _______was needed to ___.

A) allow better enforcement of civil rights laws
B) strong wall on the southern border
C) dissuade those in the country illegally from responding
D) citizenship question in the 2020 census

Question 42

The Pendleton Act was designed to bring an end to the patronage practices of the early 19th century.

Question 43

The United States employs the largest percentage of its workforce in the bureaucracy of any industrialized democratic nation.

Question 44

Cabinet level department heads have the title of Secretary.

Question 45

The civil service has become increasingly demographically reflective of American society?

Question 46

The proportion of the American workforce that is employed full-time by the federal government steadily grew in the 2000's to become the highest at any time since the 1970s?

Question 47

Congress recognizes that the Federal Reserve Board's reputation for independence gives them important protection against blame when the economy performs poorly.

Question 48

Historically, independent regulatory commissions were not assigned technical policy areas where expertise was to govern.

Question 49

Republican presidents use their leverage over the bureaucracy to limit its intrusion into the private sector.

Question 50

Donald Trump systematically sought to roll-back the Obama era regulations.

Question 51

President Trump recognized that the Federal Reserve Board's reputation for independence gave him important protection against blame when the economy takes a downturn.

Question 52

How does bureaucratic rule making include the executive in the development of law?

Question 53

How do imprecise measures of success impact the bureaucracy?

Question 54

Discuss the evolution of the federal bureaucracy since the New Deal.

Question 55

Discuss the development of the bureaucracy from its origins to the early twentieth century.

Question 56

Contrast the bureaucratic control activities of the executive versus the legislative branches.

Question 57

What is the structure of the American national bureaucracy?

Question 58

Was Homeland Security a good idea? Use the text for evidence in making your argument pro or con.

Question 59

During the recent establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, what were some of the problems faced by the Bush administration in this major reorganization effort?

Question 60

Discuss why Republican presidents, including Donald Trump, use their leverage over the bureaucracy to limit its intrusion into the private sector. Do you believe this is beneficial? Why or why not?

Question 61

What is bureaucracy, and what role does it play in government?

Question 62

How have the size and role of the federal bureaucracy changed over the course of American political history?

Question 63

What should the government do to foster economic growth in the United States?

Question 64

Why is the federal bureaucracy less flexible, dynamic, and innovative than most large corporate bureaucracies?

Question 65

How do the president, Congress, and courts exercise control over the bureaucracy?