| A | B |
|---|
| Bureaucracy | According to Max Weber, a hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality. Bureaucracies govern modern states. |
| Pendleton Civil Service Act | Passed in 1883, an Act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage. |
| Hatch Act | A federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics. |
| Merit Principle | The idea that hiring should be based on skill or qualification rather than connections and patronage. |
| Independent executive agencies | The government agencies not accounted for by cabinet departments, independent regulatory agencies, and government corporations. Its administrators are typically appointed by the president and serve at the president's pleasure. |
| Policy implementation | the stage of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people whom it affects. It involves translating the goals and objectives of a policy into an operating, ongoing program. |
| iron triangle | A "subgovernment" connected around a specific issue. Iron Triangles contain: an interest group (who wants/lobbies for a law), a Congressional committee (who writes a law), and the bureaucratic agency responsible for enforcing the law. |
| Deregulation | The lifting of restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities for which government rules had been established and that bureaucracies had been created to administer. |
| Executive orders | regulations originating from the executive branch. Executive orders are one method presidents can use to control the bureaucracy. |
| Entitlement Program | A program under which the federal government is obligated to pay a specified benefit to people who meet certain requirements. (i.e. Social Security) |
| Administrative discretion | the decision-making authority of a person who is enforcing a law in the way they enforce it (how effective they are, where/when they choose to enforce it, etc) |
| civil service | government employment |
| command and control policy | A "top-down" approach where orders and commands are handed down to subordinates |
| Independent Regulatory Commissions/Agencies | Examples: Interstate Commerce Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, NLRB, Federal Reserve. |
| government corporation | Provides a service to the public at a cost. This type of service is usually also offered by the private sector but would likely cost more than it does if the government offers it. |
| GS Rating | The pay and job-level scale for employees in the federal civil service (bureaucracy) |
| Incentive system | A proposed alternative to the "command and control" policy |
| OPM (Office of Personnel Management) | Responsible for the hiring of many government employees in the bureaucracy. (Not the top-level administrators though. Those are appointed by the president, confirmed by Senate) |
| patronage | getting jobs because of connections. Andrew Jackson was a fan, as was Chester Arthur until Garfield's assassination because of an angry patronage job-seeker. |
| regulation | monitoring actions and enforcing rules |
| Senior Executive Service | The highest level of the GS rating. These people are eligible for the highest-level, highest-paying jobs in the civil service. |
| SOP | Standard Operating Procedures |
| street-level bureaucrat | a civil service worker who carries out policies on a day to day basis. Examples of state and local level street-level bureaucrats would be firefighters and police. |
