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130 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are the roles of government?
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Security, membership, prosperity, needs.
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Types of public policy
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Regulatory, self-regulatory, distributive, and redistributive.
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Regulatory policy
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Policy that limits the discretion of individuals and agencies.
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Self-Regulatory policy
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Policy where an organization monitors its own adherence to legal, ethical, or safety standards rather than having an outside agency.
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Distributive policy
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Policy that extends goods and services to members of an organization, as well as distributing the costs of the goods/services amongst members of the organizations.
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Redistributive Policy
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Policy where the government taxes one group of people to provide benefits to another group.
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Costs
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Any burden, monetary or non-monetary, that a person must bear if policy is enacted.
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Benefits
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Any satisfaction or gain that people will enjoy if a policy is enacted.
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Externalities
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Whenever an individual or firm undertakes an action that has an effect on another individual or firm.
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Typology of public policy
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Majoritarian, interest groups, client, and entrepreneurial.
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Majoritarian politics
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A policy in which almost everybody benefits and everybody pays. Ex: social security.
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Interest Group politics
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A policy in which one small group benefits and another small group pays. Ex: NRA and gun policy.
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Client Politics
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A policy in which one small group benefits and almost everyone pays. Ex: Veteran benefits
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Entrepreneurial politics
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A policy in which almost everybody benefits and a small group pays the costs. Ex: EPA regulations.
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Stages of policy development
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Problem definition, agenda setting, policy formulation, policy adoption, policy implementation, policy evaluation.
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Problem definition
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There is an issue of public concern.
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Agenda setting
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Problems needs to get the attention of someone who can do something about it.
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Policy formulation
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Development of effective and acceptable courses of action for addressing what has been placed on the policy agenda.
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Policy Adoption
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Policymakers discuss options and possible solutions and adopt new or amend existing policy.
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Policy Implementation
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Critical decisions are made which ultimately determine the policy's effectiveness.
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Policy Evaluation
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Policy is evaluated to see if the policy meets its original intents and if there are any unintended outcomes.
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Empirical Policy Evaluation
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Relating to experiment and observation rather than theory.
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Normative Policy Evaluation
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Prescribing to norm or standard.
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Models of Policy Developments
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Elite theory, group theory, institutional theory, rational choice theory.
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Elite theory
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Theory that influence over policy is exercised by powerful individuals or groups to maximize their own interests at the expense of competing groups.
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Group theory
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Theory that many elites with competing interests bargain with one another to affect policy
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Institutional Theory
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Theory that emphasizes the formal and legal aspects of government in shaping policy. Things like structure of congress.
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Rational Choice Theory
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Theory that assumes that individuals in the policy process operate as rational actors in seeking to maximize the attainment of their preferences.
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Policy Assessment
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Costs and benefits, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, political feasibility, social acceptability, technical feasibility.
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The Legislative Process and Policy
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Bill is introduced, committee stage, floor debate: house, floor debate: senate, filibusters, reconciliation, conference committee, and presidential signature.
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Committee Stage
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1. Hearing is held, people will testify.
2. Mark-up. (Rebuttal/bargaining) 3. Committee votes to recommend bill out of committee to full chamber. |
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Conference Committee
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When house and senate pass different versions, bill must be reconciled.
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Central Role of Committees
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Committees are made up of subsets of members with interest in a specific policy area.
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Committee Specialization
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Since members cannot be experts in everything, deference should be shown to the most knowledgeable of a topic related to their committee work.
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Committee Deference
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Submission or courteous yielding to opinion.
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Pork Barrel
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Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or states in hope of winning their votes in return.
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Universalism
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Equal distribution of money to all districts.
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Features of Congressional Policy Making
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Central role of committees, difficulty in becoming law, committee specialization and deference, pork barrel, and universalism.
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Presidential power in policy making
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Growth in implied powers for security and national defense, bargaining, veto, "going public" and presidential popularity.
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Example of implied powers
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Power to regulate interstate commerce would imply that congress also has the power to set and enforce safety regulations among commercial transporters of goods.
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Policy at State and Federal Level
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Federalism in the Constitution, federal powers, state powers, pendulum of federalism, grants, finding a balance.
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Federal Powers
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Issues that involve more than one state, ex: commerce, national defense, currency.
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State Powers
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10th amendment grants. Where a lot of governmental impact of our lives is placed. Ex: Criminal law, civil law, professional licenses.
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Pendulum of Federalism
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The level of policy being made and influenced between the federal and state government has varied dramatically. Ex: The government took the power of interstate commerce so now they regulate most of the economy.
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Categorical Grants
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Federal governments gives specific directions on how grant money will be spent.
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Block Grants
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Give much more leeway to the states.
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Finding a Balance
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Difficult to balance because of the nature of our system.
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Assessing Federalism and Policy
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Increased state power in policy making, laboratory of freedom, disadvantages (conflict), Inter-state disparities, finding a balance.
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Structure of Court System
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District courts, court of appeals, and supreme court.
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District courts
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94. General trial courts of US federal court system.
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Court of Appeals
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13. Any party who is dissatisfied with judgement of a district court may appeal. Courts will only examine for mistakes of law, no additional evidence is taken.
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Supreme Court
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9 judges and 1 chief justice. Those dissatisfied with the decision of the court of appeals can petition the supreme court to hear the case.
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Federal vs. State Courts
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Both make policy. If a state law is being looked at, and that state law violates federal law, federal court may step in.
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Making policy in the court system
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Judicial review, Interpretation, precedent, judicial restraint and judicial activism.
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Judicial review
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Doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary.
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Interpretation in the court system
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Courts interpret what the founders meant where the Constitution is ambiguous and try to determine what congressional laws should mean.
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Precedent
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Court follows what previous courts have decided. Precedent was not used in Plessy vs. Fergurson (Original case was Brown vs. Board of Education)
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Judicial Restraint
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Encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power. Judges hesitate to strike down laws unless they are clearly unconstitutional.
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Judicial Activism
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Judicial rulings suspected of being based on personal or political considerations rather than on existing law.
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Bureaucratic Policy Making
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Bureaucratic authority, regulations, deregulation.
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Bureaucratic Authority
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When acting under the authority granted by congress, they are making policy with congressional authority and this is where a lot of policy is made.
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Regulations in bureaucratic policy making
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Specific forms of policy that place constraints on business and personal practices.
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Deregulation
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Act or process of removing state regulations. Ex: Airline deregulation act, removed government control over fares, routes and market entry from commercial aviation.
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Influences on Bureaucratic Policy Making
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President, Congress, Interest groups, iron triangles, issue networks, courts.
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How the president influences bureaucratic policy making
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Can appoint and remove heads of most bureaucracies and generally appoints those with similar views.
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How the congress influences bureaucratic policy making
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They pass the laws that the agencies have to follow and if they do not like what the agency has done with their discretion, they can pass a more specific law.
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How interest groups influence bureaucratic policy making
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They work to get the policies implemented that best serve them.
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How the iron triangles influence bureaucratic policy making
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Interest groups lobby committee, committee gets bureaucracy involved to pass laws that are favorable to interest group and the bureaucracy gets the budget it wants as well as friendly oversight.
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How the issue networks influence bureaucratic policy making
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An alliance of various interest groups and individuals unite in order to promote a single issue of government policy.
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How the court influences bureaucratic policy making
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Lawsuits are made and the court determines whether the regulation is constitutional and how that regulation will be enforced. Ex: Business will challenge environmental regulations.
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Interest Groups
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Organizations which try to achieve at least some of their goals through influencing the government.
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Interest Group Influence: Insider Strategies
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PACs, lobbying congress, lobbying the bureaucracy.
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Interest Groups Influence: Outsider Strategies
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Courts, grassroots lobbying, protest.
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Factors Affecting Success in Influencing Policy
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Group resources, group intensity, group competition, group goals, status quo.
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Group Resources
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Money, number of members, socioeconomic status of members, public image.
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Group Intensity
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The stronger the interest and activity of members, the more clout it will have in influencing members of congress.
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Group Competition
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When there is little competition from other groups, an interest group has much greater opportunity for influence.
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Group Goals
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Groups with small, narrow goals are going to have more success than groups seeking broad, comprehensive change.
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Status Quo
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Stopping change is easier than making change. Ex: NRA is successful because they do not want more gun policy, and as long as they can get one aspect of the legislative process to fail, they win.
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Economic Policy
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Policies intended to affect economic conditions.
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Federal government and economic policy
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Has become much more involved since FDR. American public expects the federal government to implement policies to improve our economic conditions.
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Free Enterprise Approach
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Private ownership of most goods and services with reasonably minimal government interference. Government is necessary to enforce contracts and regulate the market place.
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Goals of Economic policy
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Economic growth, low unemployment, low inflation, and stability.
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Economic Growth
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Increasing the production of goods and services. Measured by GDP.
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Recession
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When GDP shrinks
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Depression
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When GDP shrinks by a substantial amount
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Low unemployment
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People have jobs and are contributing to the system, and providing higher tax revenue.
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Low Inflation
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The rate at which prices increase. When inflation goes up too high, savings are losing money in real terms. Government tries to keep inflation below 3%.
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Economic stability
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An absence of excessive fluctuations in the economy.
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Theories of economic policy
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Classical, Keynesian, Monetary economics, and supply side economics.
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Classical Theory
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Views a market as a self adjusting mechanism that will achieve a stable equilibrium of full employment, high productivity, and stable prices if we just leave it alone.
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Keynesian Theory
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When you have low employment and low wages, this reduces the demand for good and services which feeds on itself a negative cycle. Government intervention is necessary.
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Monetary Economics
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Focused on the supply of money in the economy and how that influences the overall state of the economy. Money is allowed into economy by federal reserve and they also adjust interest rates.
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Supply Side Economics
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Lowering tax rates leads to a surge in economic growth and productivity, which more than makes up for the fact that there is a lower tax rate.
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Tools of Economic policy
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Fiscal policy, monetary policy, regulation.
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Fiscal Policy
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Policies regarding taxing, budgets and government spending.
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Monetary Policy
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By affecting the money supply, the federal reserve is able to have an impact on our amount of economic growth, unemployment and inflation.
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Regulation in economic policy
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Businesses have a tendency to form trusts, monopolies, cartels, etc. that run contrary to the nation's overall economic health. These unregulated businesses lead to much larger swings in economy.
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Basic goal of tax policy
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To create enough revenue to cover our expenses.
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Tax Policy
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Personal income tax, capital gains, payroll tax, estate tax, progressivity of income tax, universality in tax policy, tax reform.
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Personal Income Tax
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Taxes on the income of individuals or businesses
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Capital Gains
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Profits on investments. Taxed lower to encourage investments.
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Payroll Tax
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Second largest and fastest growing source of revenue. Dedicated to social security and medicare. Cap on the first $110,00 of your wages.
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Estate Tax
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Death tax. Tax imposed on the transfer of "taxable estate" of a deceased person. Up to $5 million can be passed on without incurring federal estate tax.
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Progessivity of income tax
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The more money you make, the higher your tax rate.
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Universality in tax policy
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Idea that all types of income should be taxed at the same rate. We do not have this because of capital gains and tax breaks.
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Tax Reform
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Process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government.
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The Budget
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National debt, debts vs. deficits, the deficit problem, entitlement spending, and taxes, spending and the budget.
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National Debt
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Money the country owes to other countries or to citizens.
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Debt
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Total amount that we owe.
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Deficit
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Difference between how much the federal government spends and how much it collects in one year.
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The Deficit Problem
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Too much deficit.
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Entitlement Spending
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Spending on entitlement programs such as social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment, etc.
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Taxes, spending and the budget
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There is constant borrowing and raising of taxes to create more revenue.
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Contemporary Controversies
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Stimulus, debt ceiling, income inequality.
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Obama's Stimulus Package
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Prevented economic calamity and catastrophe. Non-partisan, wall street economist types agree that unemployment would be 2% higher without it.
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Debt ceiling
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Statutory limit on the amount of debt we can have.
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Income Inequality
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Income inequality has over all grown significantly since the late 70s, after decades of stability.
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Foreign Policy
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Self interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations.
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Globalization of foreign policy
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Elimination of barriers to trade, communications, and cultural exchange. Worldwide openness will will promote the inherent wealth of all nations.
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Quasi-anarchy of foreign policy
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There is no universal sovereign or worldwide government.
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Goals of foreign policy
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Power, peace, prosperity, principles and tools.
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Domestic politics of foreign policy
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War powers, presidents as foreign policy leaders, foreign policy advisers, bureaucratic politics, interest groups, media and public opinion.
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War Powers
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President must notify congress within 48 hours of committing troops to military action, and congress must authorize within 60 days. Congress also has power to declare war.
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Presidents as foreign policy leaders
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President represents us to the world.
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Foreign Policy advisers
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Secretary of state, secretary of defense, CIA director, and national security adviser.
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Bureaucratic politics in foreign policy
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Responsibilities for foreign policy issues are shared by many different agencies with very different bureaucratic goals.
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Interest groups in foreign policy
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There is a larger role for ethnic interest groups to try and influence policies toward their homeland. Ex: Policy toward Cuba is shaped by the powerful and vocal Cuban population.
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Media in foreign policy
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Generally ignores all but the largest foreign policy stories, and doesn't keep us well informed.
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Public opinion on foreign affairs
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As a general rule, the public is willfully uninformed about foreign affairs, which gives government more leeway to act without being checked.
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