bureaucracy Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is the federal judiciary?
The branch of the federal government that interprets the laws of the nation.
What is the federal bureaucracy?
The department and agencies within the executive branch that carry out the laws of the nation.
What is a bureaucrat?
An official employed within a government bureaucracy.
What is political patronage?
Filling of administrative positions as a reward for support, rather than solely on merit.
What is the Pendleton Act?
An act of Congress that created the first United States Civil Service Commission to draw up and enforce rules on hiring, promotion, and tenure of office within the civil service.
Also known as the Civil Reform Act of 1883.
What is the federal civil service?
The merit-based bureaucracy, excluding the armed forces and political appointments.
What is the merit system?
A system of hiring and promotion based on competitive testing results, education, and other qualifications rather than politics and personal opinions.
What is an iron triangle?
Coordinated and mutually beneficial activities of the bureaucracy, Congress, and interest groups to achieve shared policy goals.
What is an issue network?
Webs of influence between interest groups, policymakers, and policy advocates.
What is implementation in the context of bureaucracy?
The bureaucracy’s role in putting into action the laws that Congress has passed.
What is bureaucratic discretion?
The power to decide how a law is implemented and to decide what Congress meant when it passed a law.
What is regulation?
The process through which the federal bureaucracy makes rules that have the force of law, to carry out the laws passed by Congress.
What is bureaucratic adjudication?
When the federal bureaucracy settles disputes between parties that arise over the implementations of federal laws or determines which individuals or groups are covered in a program.
