Deck 11: The Bureaucracy

Question 1

Which type of agency is the largest bureaucracy in the executive branch?

A) departments
B) government corporations
C) regulatory boards
D) independent agencies

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Bureaucracies are _____________, stipulating which workers have the power to issue commands, about what, and to whom.

A) fragmented
B) hierarchical
C) independent
D) overarching

Answer 2

B

Question 3

"Executive Departments" are mentioned in the __________.

A) Bill of Rights
B) Alien and Sedition Act of 1798
C) Constitution
D) first congressional mandate

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The Department of Agriculture is a prime example of an agency that __________.

A) is shrinking in power
B) regulates too often
C) Congress has deauthorized
D) conducts research

Question 5

The authority given to an agency to draft and implement specific policies is __________.

A) delegated from Congress
B) known as legislative authority
C) delegated from the executive
D) a bureaucratic power

Question 6

One route to downsizing the federal bureaucracy involves outsourcing government programs to __________.

A) foreign countries
B) local government
C) private industry
D) state government

Question 7

Bureaucracies tend to ____________.

A) die off once their mandates have been fulfilled
B) downsize after a national crisis
C) grow as they are assigned more responsibilities
D) stay the same size

Question 8

Public bureaucracies must be more ____________ than private ones.

A) profitable
B) open
C) secretive
D) independent

Question 9

George Washington's first cabinet ____________.

A) had only three departments and employed only a few hundred people
B) had more employees than did his successors
C) was relatively large compared to the size of the new republic
D) worked exclusively at Mount Vernon

Question 10

The bureaucracy's official role is to implement and enforce policies. Bureaucratic agencies are established by ____________.

A) the people
B) the president
C) the federal courts
D) Congress

Question 11

____________ causes the bureaucracy to grow.

A) The Constitution
B) Constituent indifference
C) Social and economic change
D) Peacetime

Question 12

____________ are written job descriptions and guidelines for good performance, promotions, and grievances that are essential to bureaucracies.

A) Formal rules
B) Informal norms
C) Appropriations
D) Hierarchical divisions

Question 13

The public bureaucracy's principal responsibility is to ____________.

A) regulate
B) implement the law
C) collect and analyze data
D) declassify documents

Question 14

Over the past fifty years, presidents have tried to __________ government.

A) enlarge
B) reclassify
C) reorganize
D) downsize

Question 15

____________ involves producing rules, standards, or guidelines that confer benefits and impose restrictions on business conduct and economic activity.

A) Regulation
B) Authorization
C) Appropriation
D) Legislative autonomy

Question 16

Public agencies are supposed to __________.

A) operate inefficiently
B) work on behalf of Congress
C) make a profit
D) serve the public interest

Question 17

__________ is the term used to describe the process through which federal bureaucrats allocate work among their personnel so that each worker performs specific tasks.

A) Division of labor
B) Delegated legislative authority
C) Independent legislative authority
D) Appropriation

Question 18

The goals of a public bureaucracy are __________.

A) to make a profit
B) complex, although profit is considered
C) defined by elected officials
D) agreed upon by most people

Question 19

When the president and Congress decide to go to war, they empower the ____________.

A) Department of the Interior
B) State Department
C) Defense Department
D) War Department

Question 20

The Clinton administration's initiative of "reinventing government" was designed to __________.

A) institute a hands-on approach to government
B) retrain federal employees
C) change the form of government
D) downsize government

Question 21

Which of the following established neutral competence, which requires that civil service work be completed in a nonpartisan or neutral way?

A) the Pendleton Act
B) the Hatch Act
C) the merit system
D) the Sunshine Law

Question 22

What law deals mainly with individual and interest group oversight of the federal bureaucracy?

A) the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946
B) the Voting Rights Act of 1965
C) the Judiciary Act of 1789
D) the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921

Question 23

The federal courts __________.

A) are a weak check on the power of the federal bureaucracy
B) cannot intercede in an agency's decision making
C) cannot declare acts of bureaucrats unconstitutional
D) usually defer to the agency's interpretations

Question 24

The agency involved in compiling the proposed budget is the __________.

A) Bureau of the Budget
B) Executive Office of the President
C) Office of Management and Budget
D) State Department

Question 25

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an example of a(n) __________.

A) independent agency
B) department
C) independent regulatory commission
D) government corporation

Question 26

Which of the following is an example of a whistleblower action?

A) leading a business interest group
B) leaking confidential papers
C) heading a cabinet department
D) tallying congressional oversight complaints

Question 27

__________ is the appointment of supporters to administrative jobs by elected officials in order to strengthen their political base.

A) Graft
B) Pork barrel
C) Constituent staffing
D) Patronage

Question 28

Through which of the following avenues is congressional oversight consistently exercised?

A) through the budgetary process
B) through executive investigations
C) through agency independence
D) through judicial review

Question 29

The Civil Service Commission _____________.

A) was created by Andrew Jackson to help him fill government jobs with members of his party
B) implements the Ethics in Government Act
C) regulates and presides over the federal government's employment system
D) administers the federal government's merit system without giving anyone, except for the most skilled, an advantage

Question 30

The Administrative Procedure Act is a form of governmental ____________.

A) oversight
B) research
C) secrecy
D) classification

Question 31

Agencies of the executive branch are sometimes more committed to preserving their own resources than protecting the people of the United States, creating __________.

A) turf wars
B) the Office of Personal Management
C) the spoils system
D) the Civil Service Commission

Question 32

Which of the following eliminated the patronage system in the federal bureaucracy?

A) the Homeland Security Department
B) the Bureau of the Budget
C) the Office of Management and Budget
D) the Pendleton Act

Question 33

The ultimate instrument of control that Congress has over the president is the __________.

A) confirmation of nominees
B) scope of oversight
C) power of the purse
D) threat of impeachment

Question 34

The Tennessee Valley Authority is an example of a(n) __________.

A) department
B) independent regulatory agency
C) independent agency
D) government corporation

Question 35

According to the Hatch Act, federal workers cannot ____________.

A) attend campaign rallies
B) vote in regional elections
C) talk to friends about political candidates
D) actively participate in partisan campaigns

Question 36

Since the ____________ was passed, all federal agencies must disclose their rule-making procedures and publish all regulations at least thirty days in advance of their effective date to allow time for public comment.

A) Patriot Act
B) Administrative Procedure Act
C) Freedom of Information Act
D) Code of Federal Regulations

Question 37

Clear and strong feedback about its performance when a suit has been filed is a check on bureaucracy provided by the __________ branch.

A) executive
B) legislative
C) military
D) judicial

Question 38

Which of the following groups is significantly underrepresented in the federal workforce?

A) Asian Americans
B) American Indians
C) Hispanics
D) women

Question 39

Many blame the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the federal government's failure to respond adequately to __________.

A) the 9/11 terrorist attacks
B) the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
C) Hurricane Katrina
D) the housing bubble bust

Question 40

__________ chose heads for regulatory agencies, such as OSHA, the Consumer Product Safety, and the EPA, who agreed with his goal of reducing government regulation.

A) George Washington
B) Ronald Reagan
C) Theodore Roosevelt
D) J. Edgar Hoover

Question 41

How can the federal bureaucracy expand or shrink?

Question 42

Americans want their bureaucrats to be both competent and responsive. To what degree are these goals compatible?

Question 43

The ____________ can limit or increase access to government documents.

A) chief executive
B) federal courts
C) people
D) bureaucratic leaders

Question 44

In recent decades, ___________ declassified a large number of documents through FOIA.

A) Ronald Reagan
B) Bill Clinton
C) George W. Bush
D) Barack Obama

Question 45

List three categories of federal agencies and some examples of each.

Question 46

List and describe some tasks of the federal bureaucracy.

Question 47

Describe three laws that keep the federal bureaucracy visible and open.

Question 48

In a democratic republic, the public can directly influence how bureaucrats do their work through __________.

A) rebellion
B) constitutional amendments
C) quadrangles
D) lobbying

Question 49

How has the merit system changed the federal bureaucracy and its oversight?

Question 50

How do the goals of private and public bureaucracies differ?

Question 51

What are whistleblowers?

Question 52

What are some advantages and disadvantages of privatizing federal jobs?

Question 53

What tools do presidents have to control the federal bureaucracy? How successful do presidents tend to be at regulating it?

Question 54

If a citizen or company wanted to retrieve documents about Cold War diplomacy, they would utilize the _____________.

A) Patriot Act
B) Administrative Procedure Act
C) Freedom of Information Act
D) Code of Federal Regulations

Question 55

How do interest groups influence bureaucratic policy making?