AP Government and Politics: Chapter 15

AP Government and Politics: Chapter 15 - The Bureaucracy

18197349	Bureaucracy	A large, complex organization composed of appointed officials.
18197350	Laissez-faire	An economic theory that gobernment should not regulate or interfere with commerce.
18197351	Discretionary authority	The extent to which appointed bureaucrats can choose courses of action and make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws.
18197352	Competitive service	The government office to which people are appointed on the grounds of merit as ascertained by a written examination or by having met certain selection criteria (such as training, educational attainments, or prior experience).
18197353	Pendleton Act	The extent to which appointed bureaucrats can choose courses of action and make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws.
18197354	Name-request jobs	A job that is filled by a person whom an agency has already identified
18197355	Civil Service Reform Act of 1978	recognized that many high level positions in the civil service have important policy making responsibilities and that the president and his cabinet officers ought to have more flexibility in recruiting, assigning, and paying such people.
18197356	Senior Executive Service	Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible, mobile corps of senior career executives who work closely with presidential appointees to manage government.
18197357	Whistle Blower Protection Act	the law that created the Office of Special Counsel, charged with investigating complaints from bureaucrats that that they were punished after reporting to Congress about waste, fraud, or abuse in their agencies.
18197358	Iron triangle	A close relationship between an agency, a congressional committee, and an interest group.
18197359	Issue network	A network of people in Washington DC based interest groups, on congressional staffs, in universities and think tanks, and in the mass media, who regularly discuss and advocate public policies.
18197360	Authorization legislation	Legislative permission to begin or continue a government program or agency.
18197361	Appropriation	A legilative grant of money to finance a government program or agency.
18197362	Trust funds	Funds for government programs that are collected and spent outside the regular government budget.
18197363	Committee clearance	The ability of a congressional committee to review and approve certain agency decisions in advance and without passing a law.
18197364	Legislative veto	The authority of Congress to block a presidential action after it has taken place. The Supreme Court has held that Congress does not have this power
18197365	Red tape	Complex bureaucratic rules and procedures that must be followed to get something done.