Deck 15: The Bureaucracy the Bureaucracy

Question 1

 Between 1816 and 1861,the number of federal employees increased eightfold,in large part because of 

A) an increase in the need for government accountants. 
B) an increase in the need for Secret Service agents. 
C) dramatic increases in new government functions. 
D) growth in the Post Office. 
E) increases in military staff.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

 The number of civilians working for the federal bureaucracy has not increased much since 1960.This observation fails,however,to account for the 

A) enormous decrease in the government workforce that occurred between 1986 and 1990. 
B) enormous increase in the government workforce that occurred between 1965 and 1970. 
C) enormous increase in state bureaucracies that occurred during this period. 
D) enormous increase in local bureaucracies that occurred during this period. 
E) growing number of people who work indirectly for the government.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

 Periodically,the size of the bureaucracy has grown substantially.These times of growth have generally occurred during 

A) depressions. 
B) wars. 
C) periods of prosperity. 
D) recessions. 
E) election years.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

 Which of the following factors contributes to the distinctive nature of American bureaucracy? 

A) Political authority is shared among several institutions. 
B) Most federal agencies share functions with state and local agencies. 
C) The traditions and institutions of American life possess an adversarial culture. 
D) The Constitution permits both the president and Congress to exercise authority over the bureaucracy. 
E) All of these are correct.

Question 5

 During most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,appointments to the civil service were based primarily on 

A) merit. 
B) education. 
C) patronage. 
D) wealth. 
E) experience in government.

Question 6

 A dramatic increase in size of the federal bureaucracy occurred during the twentieth century,largely as a consequence of 

A) the growth of patronage and the rise of political parties. 
B) the Sixteenth Amendment and the Social Security Act. 
C) a desire for limited government and an end to earlier regulatory practices. 
D) the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II. 
E) the rise of special-interest groups and unions.

Question 7

 The creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)led to the federal government 

A) regulating the national economy for the first time in a meaningful way. 
B) supporting states' efforts against regulation. 
C) assuming complete control of the railroads. 
D) opposing civil service reforms. 
E) None of these are correct.

Question 8

 The __________ to the Constitution allows the federal government to tax income. 

A) Sixteenth Amendment 
B) Nineteenth Amendment 
C) Twenty-first Amendment 
D) Twenty-second Amendment 
E) Twenty-sixth Amendment

Question 9

 Which of the following is an example of a bureaucracy? 

A) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 
B) The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 
C) A large university 
D) A large corporation 
E) All of these are correct.

Question 10

 Scholar Donald F.Kettl coined the "Mildred Paradox" to describe 

A) the ability of citizens to receive costly federal government services without ever interacting with civil servants. 
B) the greater flexibility of government-by-proxy versus traditional government. 
C) the inability of citizens to accurately assess the cost of government services they use. 
D) the way that unitary systems are affected by government-by-proxy. 
E) All of these are correct.

Question 11

 The text argues that many of the problems of bureaucracy in government arise from its 

A) formality. 
B) political context. 
C) remoteness from everyday life. 
D) complexity. 
E) transparency.

Question 12

 By definition,a bureaucracy must have each of the following EXCEPT 

A) a large size. 
B) divided authority. 
C) a complex structure. 
D) elected officials. 
E) no one person who can make all of the decisions.

Question 13

 A laissez-faire economy 

A) is restrictive but fair. 
B) is supported by the general public. 
C) is freely competitive. 
D) is based on rapid industrialization. 
E) mixes industry and agriculture.

Question 14

 When an agency such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)makes an important decision,it is quite likely to be taken to court.This is an example of what is meant by 

A) government bureaucracy. 
B) impedimentary government. 
C) red tape. 
D) adversary culture. 
E) reciprocal administration.

Question 15

 In the First Congress,it was decided that appointed federal officials would be removable by 

A) either the president or the Congress. 
B) the president and Congress acting together. 
C) the president alone. 
D) Congress alone. 
E) the Supreme Court.

Question 16

 The text refers to the Civil War as the "great watershed in bureaucratic development" because 

A) citizens began to realize the importance of bureaucracy. 
B) fighting the war led to the hiring of many new officials and the creation of new offices. 
C) the Union had better bureaucrats than the Confederacy. 
D) state governments were able to manage the growth in government from the war. 
E) bureaucrats became popular among the people.

Question 17

 Today,the federal government contains how many cabinet departments? 

A) 10 
B) 12 
C) 14 
D) 15 
E) 20

Question 18

 One can find elements of government by proxy in the administration of 

A) Social Security. 
B) Medicare. 
C) environmental protection. 
D) collection of income taxes. 
E) All of these are correct.

Question 19

 During the early years of the federal government,only this department held much power. 

A) Department of the Interior 
B) War Department 
C) Post Office Department 
D) State Department 
E) Treasury Department

Question 20

 In Great Britain,civil servants are directed explicitly by the ministers in charge of their departments.In the United States,civil servants often must obey both the heads of their agencies and 

A) the independent agencies. 
B) White House staff. 
C) professional groups. 
D) lobbies. 
E) Congress.

Question 21

 A person appointed to a government position after passing an examination is probably joining the 

A) excepted service. 
B) competitive service. 
C) patronage system. 
D) Department of State. 
E) Department of Justice.

Question 22

 According to the text,bureaucrats with more conservative views are more likely to be found in the 

A) Treasury Department. 
B) Federal Trade Commission. 
C) Environmental Protection Agency. 
D) Food and Drug Administration. 
E) None of these are correct.

Question 23

 Using what the text refers to as the "buddy system," an agency can circumvent the usual Office of Personnel Management (OPM)search process by 

A) blanketing in a job candidate. 
B) issuing a merit dispensation. 
C) asking the president to appoint a specific candidate. 
D) tailoring a job description to a specific candidate. 
E) limiting the scope of a search to a specific region.

Question 24

 Under the Privacy Act of 1974,__________ must be kept confidential. 

A) telephone conversations 
B) government documents 
C) court decrees 
D) judicial orders 
E) Social Security and tax records

Question 25

 The fact that agencies usually recruit their own staff,often on a name-request basis,should lead us to expect that these recruits will possess the 

A) intelligence of a turnip. 
B) legal viewpoints of relevant interest groups. 
C) political will to initiate new struggles. 
D) necessary expertise to advise political officials. 
E) agency point of view.

Question 26

 Which of the following statements concerning the Pendleton Act is incorrect? 

A) It was passed during a Republican administration. 
B) It was, in part, a response to public outrage over abuses of the spoils system. 
C) It was, in part, a response to the assassination of President Garfield. 
D) It was passed to avoid mass firings of Republicans. 
E) It enhanced the power of patronage in federal appointments.

Question 27

 If one examines the education,gender,race,and social origins of the federal civil service as a whole, 

A) it is clear that females are overrepresented. 
B) it is clear that there are more minorities than whites. 
C) it is clear that no attempt has been made to make it look anything like a cross section of American society. 
D) it looks very much like a cross section of American society. 
E) it is clear that wealth is a prerequisite for employment.

Question 28

 The Whistle Blower Protection Act of 1989 is designed to protect 

A) agencies that are undermined by their employees. 
B) agencies that are undermined by Congress. 
C) agency heads who fire employees for misconduct. 
D) bureaucrats who report fraud, waste, or abuse in their agencies. 
E) bureaucrats who are not career employees.

Question 29

 The Freedom of Information Act and the Administrative Procedure Act are examples of 

A) constraints on bureaucracy. 
B) early, unconstitutional attempts to restrain bureaucrats. 
C) laws that apply only to Congress. 
D) regulations that principally limit executive powers. 
E) laws that apply only to congressional staff.

Question 30

 The discretionary authority of appointed officials is their authority to 

A) shift federal dollars without clear authorization. 
B) not implement legislation. 
C) make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws. 
D) spend federal monies, even though such monies are not officially part of the federal bureaucracy. 
E) act on behalf of government officials and represent the government in courts of law.

Question 31

 This federal agency employees more than 500,000 career employees,making it the second largest employer in the United States (behind Walmart). 

A) United States Postal Service (USPS) 
B) Department of Defense (DOD) 
C) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
D) Department of State (DOS) 
E) United States National Park Service

Question 32

 In order to cope with the difficulty of firing federal bureaucrats,managers often 

A) promote the workers out of their offices. 
B) refuse to accept transfers from other agencies. 
C) give them higher-profile jobs so that failure will be obvious. 
D) suspend civil workers rather than firing them. 
E) None of these are correct.

Question 33

 Which of the following State Department employees is most likely to rise through the ranks? 

A) A skilled political negotiator 
B) An expert on international economics 
C) An expert on domestic economics 
D) An expert on embassy security 
E) Someone who supports the State Department's allies in Congress politically

Question 34

 Of the following factors,which does not explain the behavior of bureaucratic officials? 

A) How they are recruited 
B) Their personal attributes 
C) The influence of outside forces on them 
D) Their party preferences 
E) How they are rewarded.

Question 35

 Which of the following was created in 1978 in an attempt to give the president more flexibility in dealing with high-level bureaucrats? 

A) Civil Service Reform Commission 
B) Merit System Protection Board 
C) Senior Executive Service (SES) 
D) Office of Personnel Management (OPM) 
E) Presidential Task Management Board (PTMB)

Question 36

 African Americans and other minorities in the federal civil service are 

A) underrepresented at the lowest grade levels. 
B) underrepresented at the executive level. 
C) neither over- nor underrepresented at any level. 
D) overrepresented at all levels due to affirmative action. 
E) None of these are correct.

Question 37

 One disadvantage of a strong bureaucracy culture is that it 

A) gives lower-level employees too much independence in their work. 
B) can induce too many hierarchical reorganizations. 
C) can prevent important jobs or issues from being taken up. 
D) makes explicit which jobs are career-enhancing and which are not. 
E) All of these are correct.

Question 38

 One of the major constraints under which government agencies operate is the 

A) obligation of leadership to restructure frequently. 
B) power of issue networks to determine agency policy. 
C) absence of competing forces in the public sector. 
D) presence of a great many highly structured roles. 
E) large number of regulations to which they must adhere.

Question 39

 The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 requires 

A) private companies to issue environmental impact statements on an annual basis. 
B) nonprofit entities to monitor their environmental actions. 
C) the EPA to examine international trend in pollution prevention. 
D) agencies to issue impact statements before doing anything major that may affect the environment. 
E) states to implement cap and trade networks.

Question 40

 A post office worker or Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)agent would typically be part of the federal bureaucracy known as 

A) the competitive service. 
B) Schedule C positions. 
C) the merit service. 
D) the contingent service. 
E) the excepted service.

Question 41

 The power of the House Appropriations Committee over agency budgets has recently diminished,in part because of 

A) an increase in marking-up practices by other House committees. 
B) congressional concern with meeting spending limits. 
C) the 1983 Supreme Court ruling on the legislative veto. 
D) a decline in the use of trust funds by Congress. 
E) an increase in legislative inducements to restrict spending on entitlement programs.

Question 42

 __________ funds operate outside of the regular government budget,and the appropriation committees have no control over these expenditures. 

A) Trust 
B) Monetary 
C) Treasury 
D) Federal reserve 
E) None of these are correct.

Question 43

 The process of revising agency budget requests is commonly called 

A) gutting. 
B) reconciling. 
C) bait and switch. 
D) marking up. 
E) earmarking.

Question 44

 To reduce waste in government,one will probably have to increase __________. 

A) synergism 
B) duplication 
C) taxes 
D) imperialism 
E) red tape

Question 45

 The ability of a congressional committee to review and approve certain agency decisions in advance and without passing a law is known as 

A) issue networking. 
B) authorization legislation. 
C) appropriation. 
D) legislative veto. 
E) committee clearance.

Question 46

 __________ legislation specifies the maximum amount of money that an agency may spend on a given program. 

A) Allocation 
B) Appropriation 
C) Committee clearance 
D) Trust 
E) Authorization

Question 47

 One bureaucratic pathology described by the text is imperialism,meaning the tendency of agencies to 

A) work at cross purposes with one another. 
B) spend more than is necessary to buy some product or service. 
C) grow, irrespective of the benefits and costs of their programs. 
D) generate complex and sometimes conflicting rules. 
E) complicate matters that are better left to commonsense solutions.

Question 48

 Each of the following is a pathology commonly attributed to bureaucracies EXCEPT 

A) conflict. 
B) synergism. 
C) duplication. 
D) imperialism. 
E) waste.

Question 49

 The National Performance Review,led by Vice President Al Gore,argued that the problem with bureaucracy was that it had become too 

A) centralized. 
B) rule-bound. 
C) little concerned with making programs work. 
D) much concerned with avoiding scandal. 
E) All of these are correct.

Question 50

 One bureaucratic pathology described by the text is conflict,meaning the tendency of agencies to 

A) grow, irrespective of the benefits and costs of their programs. 
B) work at cross purposes with one another. 
C) spend more than is necessary to buy some product or service. 
D) generate complex and sometimes overlapping rules. 
E) complicate matters that are better left to commonsense solutions.

Question 51

 __________ is the component of bureaucracy that refers to the tendency of agencies to grow without regard to the benefits that their programs confer or the costs that they entail. 

A) Conflict 
B) Duplication 
C) Waste 
D) Imperialism 
E) None of these are correct.

Question 52

 The Supreme Court ruled that the legislative veto was 

A) unconstitutional. 
B) constitutional. 
C) unconstitutional except in certain edge cases. 
D) constitutional except in certain edge cases. 
E) impossible for the judiciary branch to rule on.

Question 53

 An "iron triangle" is a strong coalition comprised of 

A) an issue network, a policy committee, and an international group. 
B) an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group. 
C) the president, a congressional committee, and an interest group. 
D) the secretary of defense, the president, and the secretary of state. 
E) an issue network, a congressional committee, and an agency.

Question 54

 A(n)__________ is a type of alliance described by Hugh Heclo that consists of people in Washington-based interest groups,on congressional staffs,in universities and think tanks,and in the mass media,who regularly debate a particular government policy. 

A) red tape 
B) issue network 
C) iron triangles 
D) fluid networks 
E) laissez-faire

Question 55

 One way that Congress exercises authority over agencies is through 

A) the statutes that create and define them. 
B) control of Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hiring practices. 
C) the use of discharge petitions. 
D) dismissal of agency heads. 
E) the use of the Civil Service Exam.

Question 56

 When Congress formally sets aside money for a specific use,it is called a(n) 

A) allocation. 
B) appropriation. 
C) monetary-enhancement measure. 
D) fiscal measure. 
E) authorization measure.

Question 57

 Among the effects of the many constraints on government agencies is the fact that 

A) many important issues tend to receive scant attention. 
B) taking action is easier than blocking action. 
C) lower-ranking employees are reluctant to make decisions on their own. 
D) government sometimes acts too quickly. 
E) decisions are often sweeping and inflexible.

Question 58

 Iron triangles are less common today than they once were because 

A) agencies today are pressured by so many interest groups. 
B) they are no longer allowed by many agencies. 
C) congressional leadership is so much stronger today. 
D) the courts have stepped in to limit the intervention of interest groups in agency affairs. 
E) special interests have aligned themselves with congressional leaders.

Question 59

 Bureaucratic inefficiency might be desirable in that it might help 

A) protect our liberties. 
B) reduce spending. 
C) increase trust in government. 
D) create an environment of dependency. 
E) restrict conflicts between the branches.

Question 60

 The effect of a legislative veto is to 

A) give Congress control over certain executive decisions. 
B) strip House chairpersons of powers of appropriation. 
C) give Congress control over the appointment of agency heads. 
D) strip House chairpersons of powers of authorization. 
E) return power to subcommittees.

Question 61

 Bureaucracy is an outgrowth of representative democracy. 

Question 62

 When Donald Trump took office,he had to fill about twice as many jobs as President Kennedy. 

Question 63

 Agencies tend to be dominated by bureaucrats who have an "agency point of view." 

Question 64

 Grover Cleveland fired as many as 40,000 Republican postmasters and replaced them with Democrats. 

Question 65

 The current level of presidential patronage is unprecedented. 

Question 66

 The Department of State,being created first,was the most powerful of the first four government departments. 

Question 67

 Although it is extremely difficult to fire a bureaucrat,suspending one is relatively easy. 

Question 68

 The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 created the Senior Executive Service (SES)to allow the president more flexibility in firing and transferring higher officials. 

Question 69

 The national government did not make heavy use of federal income taxes until World War II. 

Question 70

 Any large business will have a bureaucracy. 

Question 71

 The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)was the first federal bureaucratic agency that exercised broad regulatory authority over the economy. 

Question 72

 Every constraint placed on the bureaucracy is placed in response to some influential faction. 

Question 73

 In most Western European nations,the government owns and operates large parts of the economy. 

Question 74

 Unlike the excepted service,the competitive service is administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). 

Question 75

 Before 1913 and the Sixteenth Amendment,the federal government could not collect income taxes. 

Question 76

 A key difference between the National Performance Review (NPR)and earlier efforts to make the bureaucracy work better and cost less was that the NPR focused on increasing presidential control of government agencies. 

Question 77

 The buddy system tends to produce poor employees. 

Question 78

 Government-by-proxy is used to describe a government that is cutting key services. 

Question 79

 The Civil War led to large growth in the federal bureaucracy. 

Question 80

 Employees hired outside of the competitive service now make up almost half of all government workers.