CPS Vocab CH 14

The authority of administrative actors to select among various responses to a given problem. It is greatest when routines, or standard operating procedures, do not fit a case!

A hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on the merit principle, and behaves with impersonality.

A system of hiring and promotion based on the merit principle and the desire to create a nonpartisan government service.

The typical system of regulation whereby government tells business how to reach certain goals, checks that these commands are followed, and punishes offenders

The lifting of governmental regulations on business, industry, and professional activities.

Regulations originating with the executive branch. They are one method presidents can use to control the bureaucracy.

An agency or entity charted by the government to perform a public purpose, operating with the independence of a private business while providing market-oriented products or services.

A schedule for federal employees, ranging from GS 1 to GS 18, by which salaries can be keyed to rating and experience.

A federal law prohibiting government employees from active participation in partisan politics while on duty or for employees in sensitive positions at any time

An alternative to command-and-control, with marketlike strategies such as rewards used to manage public policy

The government agencies not accounted for by cabinet departments, independent regulatory commissions, and government corporations. Administrators are typically appointed by the president and serve at the president’s pleasure → example = NASA

A government agency (ONE agency) with responsibility for making and enforcing rules to protect the public interest in some sector of the economy and for judging disputes over these rules.

Also known as subgovernments, a mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and congressional committees or subcommittees. They dominate some areas of domestic policymaking

Temporary, fluid alliances of various political actors - including interest groups, media pundits, academics, and policy experts - that form around a specific policy issue and dissolve once the issue is resolved.

The idea that hiring should be based on entrance exams and promotion ratings to produce administration by people with talent and skill

The office in charge of hiring for most agencies of the federal government, using elaborate rules in the process

A system in which jobs and promotions are awarded for political reasons rather than for merit or competence.

Passed in 1883, an act that created a federal civil service so that hiring and promotion would be based on merit rather than patronage.

The stage of policymaking between the establishment of a policy and the consequences of the policy for the people affected. This involves translating the goals and objectives of a policy into an operating, ongoing program.

The use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector

An elite group of about 9,000 federal government managers at the top of the civil service system

These procedures for everyday decision-making enable bureaucrats to bring efficiency and uniformity to the running of complex organizations. Uniformity promotes fairness and makes personnel interchangeable

A phrase coined by Michael Lipsky, referring to those bureaucrats who are in constant contact with the public and have considerable administrative discretion