Midterm

Question 1

Political Definition of Public Administration

Answer 1

Public administration is what government does.
Public administration is both direct (Services) and indirect (Private Services).
Public administration is implementing the public interest.
Public administration is doing collectively that which cannot be done so well individually.

Question 2

Legal Definition of Public Administration

Answer 2

it is both created and bound by an instrument of the law.
Public administration is the law in action.
Public administration is regulation.

Question 3

Managerial Definition of Public Administration

Answer 3

Public administration is the executive function of government.
Public administration is a management specialty.
Translates public policies into action and is both art and science.

Question 4

Occupational Definition of Public Administration

Answer 4

It is within the context of these occupational fields that the political, legal, and managerial aspects of public administration are transformed by public administrators into the work of government.
It is an occupational category

Question 5

Public Policy

Answer 5

A public policy is whatever a government decides to do or not to do. It is what a government does in response to a political issue.
Policy is hierarchical- The broadest, most overarching policy is made at the top. Then increasingly more focused policies must be made at every level on down.

Question 6

Representative Democracy

Answer 6

People make choices through their elected officials. Judicial- Interpret, Executive- Enforce, Legislative- Create

Question 7

Three Kinds of Executive Power

Answer 7

Conservative, Executive prerogative, Stewardship

Question 8

Conservative View of Executive Power

Answer 8

The conservative view maintains that the president, governor, or mayor is an agent of the legislature, and restricted by it.

Question 9

Executive Prerogative View of Executive Power

Answer 9

The executive prerogative view holds that under certain circumstances, the president possesses extraordinary powers to safeguard the nation, and can go above Congress as needed.

Question 10

Stewardship View of Executive Power

Answer 10

The stewardship view argues that the president is a trustee of the people and can take any action not forbidden by the Constitution to act on their behalf.

Question 11

Policy Making Process

Answer 11

Agenda Setting, Decision Making, Implementation, Evaluation, Feedback

Question 12

Agenda Setting

Answer 12

Down’s Cycle explains the stages of how a public policy appears and disappears on the political agenda.
Alarmed Discovery, Recognition of cost of change, Decline of Public Interest, Post-problem stage, Pre-problem stage… Repeat

Question 13

Decision Making

Answer 13

Public policymaking is the totality of the processes by which a government decides to deal or not to deal with a particular problem or concern. It is a never-ending process.

Question 14

Implementation

Answer 14

is the process of putting a government program into effect; it is the total process of translating a legal mandate, whether an executive order or an enacted statute, into appropriate program directives and structures that provide services or create goods.

Question 15

Evaluation

Answer 15

A program evaluation is the systematic examination of activities undertaken by government to make a determination about their effects, both for the short term and the long range.

Question 16

Feedback

Answer 16

The public policy cycle comes full circle when evaluative information creates new agenda items for subsequent decisions.

Question 17

Group Theory

Answer 17

Special interests, not government are the ones who hold power and create social policy
Elites control the process
Government is a group that competes with other groups

Question 18

Lasswell’s Rational Model

Answer 18

All options and means are considered.
Decisions are the products of structured evaluations.
Major changes can be made on a regular basis.
Decisions tend to be made proactively.
Decisions should be removed from political pressures.

Question 19

Lindblom’s Incremental Model

Answer 19

Only a few options and means are considered.
Decisions are the products of negotiated settlements.
Changes are made gradually over time.
Decisions tend to be made reactively.
Political considerations are important in determining outcomes.

Question 20

Organizational cultures and internal and external environments

Answer 20

Organizational Cultures are about the norms, values, symbols, artifacts, and other tangible and intangible things that exert influence upon a group and link it to its environment.

Question 21

J. Steven Off Organizational Cultural Perspective

Answer 21

Organizational cultures exist.
Each organizational culture is relatively unique.
Organizational culture is a socially constructed concept.
Organizational culture provides its members with a way of understanding and making sense of events and symbols.
Organizational culture, because of its ability to informally approve or disapprove of behavior, can be a powerful tool for guiding organizations.

Question 22

Machinery of Government

Answer 22

The machinery of government involves all the interconnected structures and processes of government at the federal, state, and local levels.

Question 23

Executive Office Agencies

Answer 23

The Executive Office of the President is a term that includes top presidential staff agencies which provide advice in a variety of administrative areas.

Question 24

Executive Departments

Answer 24

Executive departments. The president’s cabinet includes fourteen executive departments that advise the president.

Question 25

Independent Public Bodies

Answer 25

Governmental Corporations.

Regulatory Commissions.

Question 26

Hollow State

Answer 26

Hollow state is meant the degree of separation between a government and the services it funds, or joint production of any kind where a governmental agency relies on external entities for service delivery Milward and Provan

Question 27

State and Local Government Powers

Answer 27

The Constitution does not specifically mention local governments. Hence, their powers are derived from state law. Local government consists of a hierarchy of levels: county, municipal, city, and town governments, and special districts.

Question 28

Dillon’s Rule

Answer 28

Criteria by state courts that determines the nature and extent of powers granted to local governments. The city charter is a document that spells out the purposes and powers of a municipal corporation.

Question 29

Brownlow Committee

Answer 29

Reformed the president’s office to expand it, to meet the growing needs of the Executive.

Question 30

Hoover Commissions

Answer 30

Were set up after World War II to reorganize the federal government and modernize management systems.

Question 31

National Performance Review

Answer 31

Focused on uncontrollable budget deficits and growing national debt, overly restrictive regulations that resulted in waste in government, lack of public trust, and other complaints.

Question 32

New Public Management

Answer 32

More Entrepreneurial government

Question 33

Privatization

Answer 33

Selling government assets, Financing Government Facilities, Private provision of services
Privatization is the process of returning to the private sector property or functions previously owned or performed by government.

Question 34

Pros and Cons of Privatization

Answer 34

Pros- Efficiency Cons- Lack of accountability

Question 35

Micromanagement

Answer 35

The consequences of government reform has been to unleash a wave of micromanagement in government, where all efforts are heavily scrutinized and any failure penalized.

Question 36

3 Categories of government

Answer 36

Unitary (power lies in national government, no state government powers)
Federal (shared powers between national and state governments)
Confederation (power with sovereign states—overarching government with treaty powers)

Question 37

Intergovernmental Relations

Answer 37

It is the political, fiscal, programmatic, and administrative processes by which higher units of government share revenues and other resources with lower units of government, generally accompanied by special conditions that the lower units must satisfy as prerequisites to receiving the assistance.

Question 38

Marble Cake

Answer 38

The reality is more like a marble cake in which the cooperative relations among, the varying levels of government result in an intermingling – not layering – of facilities.

Question 39

Benefits of Federalism

Answer 39

It has a greater scope for diversity and experimentation in policy.
The need to debate issues rather than enact them instantly may provide a more considered and viable policy outcome.
It consider the different ethnic or cultural groupings that may predominate in a particular state and wish to pursue a distinct cultural and social policy.
The danger always exists in a large country that a unitary government may be too remote for appropriate democratic participation by regional centers located away from the capital; a federal system encourages regional participation in governance.
The danger exists in the unitary government that the stronger regions, the larger racial groups, or more powerful interests will provide insufficient allowance for the needs of minorities or weaker groups.

Question 40

Benefits of Unitary Government

Answer 40

This kind of government does not have state governments and all the important power lies with the national government (Denmark, Japan, France, New Zealand).

Question 41

Confederacy

Answer 41

Power rests with “sovereign” state governments, and an overarching government has some defined powers (EU, Commonwealth of Independent States (former USSR).

Question 42

Dual Federalism

Answer 42

Separate Governments, Layered Cake

Question 43

Cooperative Federalism

Answer 43

This the notion that the national, state, and local governments are cooperating, interacting agents, working jointly to solve common problems, rather than conflicting, sometimes hostile competitors pursuing similar or, more likely, conflicting ends

Question 44

New Federalism

Answer 44

The Republican efforts begun during the Nixon administration to decentralize governmental functions by returning power and responsibility to states.

Question 45

Creative Federalism

Answer 45

Federal bypassed state governments and gave grants to local governments.

Question 46

New New Federalism

Answer 46

Attempt at revenue Sharing

Question 47

Council of Governments

Answer 47

Represents any multi jurisdictional units across governments, to provide for water and affect the region as a whole.

Question 48

Picket Fence Federalism

Answer 48

Bureaucratic specialists interact constantly with eachother at all government and occupational levels.

Question 49

Grant

Answer 49

It is an intergovernmental transfer of funds (or other assets). Since long along time, state and local governments have become increasingly dependent upon federal grants for an almost infinite variety of programs.

Question 50

Public Finance

Answer 50

The theory of fiscal federalism, or multiunit government finance, is one part of the branch applied economic

Question 51

Public Choice Theory

Answer 51

Public choice theory rejects the welfare economics that arose out of the New Deal.
It questions whether such federal intervention really is the intent of the citizens.
Its exponents feel that governmental action and expenditures should be placed at the lowest level of government (the local level) because at that level more experimentation, competition, and innovation can be achieved. Citizens are better able to compare their taxation to the level of service provided and then vote out irresponsible governments.

Question 52

Race to the bottom

Answer 52

In such a climate of devolution, it is evident that many state and local governments, depending on the power-elite structure and available resources, have gradually diminished services to their own people, or may have denied services to people not from the state, creating a whole new range of intergovernmental problems.

Question 53

Ex Oficio

Answer 53

the honor associated with the office – most superficial.

Question 54

Goodwill

Answer 54

The outward perception of one’s reputation

Question 55

Public administrators have three specific obligations

Answer 55

Citizens- Moral obligations to the people they serve… Regime- Regime values and the system of government
Constitution- Uphold

Question 56

Hierarchy of Ethics

Answer 56

Personal morality – sense of right and wrong.
Professional ethics – professional norms.
Organizational ethics – organizational culture.
Social ethics – Social obligation to protect individuals and further the progress of the group.

Question 57

Administrative Accountability

Answer 57

The Rule of Law: public administrators in a democracy work within the rule of law.
Separation of Powers: the system of administrative accountability is constituted by several elements, including the separation of powers doctrine which provides for checks and balances.
Public Watchdogs: Government is constantly being watched by groups and individuals who hold it accountable, and demand transparency, when officials want to obfuscate. Common ones are:

Question 58

Whistle Blower

Answer 58

Whistleblowing refers to what happens when an employee decides that obligations to society come before obligations to an organization. Whistleblowing means calling attention to wrongdoing that is occurring within an organization.

Question 59

Power-Elite Theory

Answer 59

US is ruled by political, military, and business elite whose decisions preempt the democratic process.

Question 60

Pluralism

Answer 60

Groups compete to preserve traditional democratic values in a mass industrial state

Question 61

External Environment

Answer 61

in the diversity that constitutes America, local, regional, and national cultures impact the cultures of public organizations and in this way, public administration reflects the overall values of the society.

Question 62

Internal Environment

Answer 62

the internal culture of an organization is transmitted by socialization/enculturation. The professional groups within the organization influence the organizational culture. The conscious use of symbols through dramaturgy, rituals, and traditions reinforce the organizational culture.