Previous Section: Work Cited 

Vocabulary

Regulation: the use of government power to control some aspect of the American economy or society in the private sector.

Deregulation: When the government decreases its control over market forces.

Linkage Institution: are institutions that connect the people of the nation with the government through entities like special interest groups, elections, and political parties.

Iron Triangles: the name given to the system that connects special interest groups, the bureaucracy, and the Congress.

Issue Networks: a group of SIGs that band together to come together to influence public policy of one issue.

Plum Book: the list of federal positions that the president is able to appoint once they take office. http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/nominations-and-appointments

Control-and-Command system: this describes the current relationship between the bureaucracy, Congress and the nation. Congress dictates how to reach goals, the bureaucracy checks that the goals are completed, and they both punish those that did not meet the goals.

Incentive system: this is an ideological relationship between Congress, bureaucracy, and the rest of the nation in which Congress would give perks, in the form of tax breaks among other things, to those that the bureaucracy found to be meeting their goals instead of punishing the ones that did not.

Deregulation: this is the process/act of removing the government control of American society and the economy.

Mandate: a command from Congress that forces the hand of the Bureaucracy.

Executive Order: a command for regulation that comes straight from the President bypassing Congress.

Administrative Discretion – Brings political ideology into the enforcement of decisions; the exercise of professional expertise and judgment, as opposed to strict adherence to regulations or statutes, in making a decision or performing official acts or duties.

Apolitical- Being under no political pressure or bias 

Bureaucrat- any person who is employed by one of the many bureaucratic organizations

Civil servant- any employee of the public services that is not part of the military

Civil Service Reform Act of 1978- The act abolished the previous U.S. Civil Service Commission and gave most of its functions to three other agencies: the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Thus the Civil Service Reform Act was able to enforce anti-discrimination laws and provide equal opportunity programs in the civilian federal workplace.

The Hatch Act of 1939- Created a nonpartisanship bureaucracy. The Hatch Act stated that federal employees must not engage in partisan political activities while performing their services, and more importantly it forbade federal officials from using promises of jobs, contracts, or other benefits to gain political support or campaign contributions.

Name request job - When an agency already has a person in mind for a certain job, they are allowed to submit a form to the OPM  describing that job.  On that form the name of the person they wish for that job is included, and many times they can tailor the job description so that only the person they have requested is able to fit the requirements.

Merit - System where appointments are made because of someone's ability and proficiency, which is usually measured by objective criteria or a test

Patronage- System where positions were doled out due to political loyalty 

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883- This act established the United States Civil Service Commission and marked the beginning of the end for the spoils system. It put many federal employees under a merit based system and provided that some government jobs be decided by competitive exams.

The spoils system- see patronage

Unfunded Mandates – Regulations, or in some cases conditions for receiving grants, that impose costs on state or local governments or private entities for which they are not reimbursed by the federal government.

Previous Section: Work Cited