Quiz 1 Study Guide PDF

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Study guide for quiz 1. Given a set of terms/topics to know. Includes lecture notes and reading notes....

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Study Guide for Quiz 1, HOD 2700 This quiz will cover the material covered in classes 2-4. It includes multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, plus one short essay question. I will give you 2 or 3 essay questions and you can choose which one to answer. The quiz is closed book, and is worth 10% of your final grade. The multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions will be drawn from the key terms and the short essay questions will be drawn from the key concepts. Class 2 Key terms: Public policy - what public officials within government, and by extension the citizens they represents, choose to do or not to do about public problems - The sum of government activities (components = education, environment) - whether pursued directly or through agents (contractors - Ex: highway construction), as those activities that have an influence on the lives of citizens - A relatively stable, purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern - long term small changes - Concerns allocation of public goods; the why to complement the who what when and how of politics Policy analysis - the examination of components of pp or the policy processes - the study of the cause and consequences of policy decisions Policy choices - decisions by politicians, civil servants and others granted authority that lead to the emergence of a policy that can be put into actions Policy outputs - Ex: programs - choices put into actions Policy outcomes - the effect of the policy on citizens Policy framework - Government - the institutions and political processes through which public polocy choices are made - Federalism - federal (3 branches) - state - local - Structures and policies within each - institutionalism - Politics - the exercise of power in society or in specific decisions over pp - Policy analysis - the examination of components of public policy or the policy process; the study of the cause and consequences of policy decisions Institutionalism - structures and policies within each - a policy making theory that emphasizes the formal and legal aspects of government structures. These models look at the way governments are arranged, their legal powers and their rules for decision making New Institutionalism - the structure of the government isn’t the only important thing - must look outside to the context Public goods - negligible marginal cost - cannot exclude others from using easily - Ex: Clean air - once its clean it is always there for everyone to use Private goods - easy to exclude others from having access to - high marginal costs - Ex: Car, Laptop, Clothing

Key concepts: Policy environment - Interaction of political and socioeconomic factors with the desires and decisions of those who make policy - Neither individual decision makes nor the naure of - Geography - immigrations issues of border states - concern about the ocean for those states - Demographics - race, gender, religion, educational level, income, ethnicity and age - Ex: Florida- they care alot abot social security - Political Culture - Different regions have general political values - ex: south is more conservative - california is liberal - can change overtime but slowly - Social System - generally connected to income in US Reasons for Government Involvement - Political - Ex: debate about the wall - warzone decisions - Moral or Ethical - help the poor - stop a war - don’t allow the gas - Economics and Market Failures - Ex: distribution of resources Market Failure - To be perfectly competitive, a market must meet the following assumptions - Information is perfect and free - All consumers and firms are price takers (they take the price set by supply and demand in the market place - in contrast to monopolies that are price makers) - There are no barriers to entry/exit - Ex: costs money to enter into the industry sometimes even costs to much to enter into an industry that no company does it and the government needs to fund - Ex: education and license is expensive to become a doctor or lawyer - All decisions are private - what I do affects only me - my decision doesn’t affect others - there are no externalities - Ex: negative externality - pollution - the coal plants in Tn were killing forests in North Carolina - Ex: positive externality vaccinations - creates herd immunity - All goods are private US Federalism - Federalism - a system of government in which sovereignty is divided between a central government and another government unit - Divided into federal (judicial, executive and legislative) and state (with local governments) - Dual federalism - little integration of the two levels of gov - national gov dealth with defense and international trade - states - eduaction and transportation - up until the 19th century - Cooperative federalism - collaboration on policy making between the national and state govs - began with FDR during the depression with the New deal - Results in block (just money with more freedom) and categorical (specific use for money) grants and unfunded mandates - Decentralization - more power to the states - many favor bc they think the states can betters serve the needs of their citizens but the main drawback is that state may be able

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to provide unequal services and not do things well Federalism - Separation of powers - among the three federal branches of government (judiciary, legislative, executive) and the states as well are divided similarly - so separate among branches and the levels of government (national and state government) - any power not explicitly given to the federal government then it falls under the state gov - local govs are not mentioned in constitution - but interpreted as creatures of the states - so have to do what they state does - Checks and balances - executive has power to veto legislative laws - legislative branch can impeach executive and judiciary - they can also override veto by president (⅔) - the judiciary can find things unconstitutional for the other two branches - Why? Doesn’t make for a smooth operating gov - we want to insure that no branch has too much power - we were concerned bc we just came for a tyrannus monarchy - We started with the articles of confederation - where the federal gov was too weak - so this is how we found the gov we have today - Role of the states - they can amend the constitution if they wanted - have power with the separation of powers - Role of the locals - they do a lot - but they don’t have formal authority - an extension of the state gov - electing some officials - most of our interaction with gov happens at the local level - Ex: public schools - police officers - where much of the policy is implemented - How many local govs are there in the US? - 3,000 county govs - 19,000 towns/city govs - but in total there are 90,000 things considered local govs - ex: school boards/districts - library districts - water conservation districts - and many more special service districts

Class 3 Key terms: Players (official v. unofficial) - Official - elected or appointed representatives - congress - bureaucracy - anyone working for the gov or on behalf (contractors) - Unofficial - lobbyists (includes corporations) - policy analysts - think tank (private orgs that make recommendations) - experts - media - foreign states - public (through voting, protests, rallies) Wright’s models of IGR Wright’s Three Models of IGR in the US - IGR - intergovernmental relations model - the relationship among governments - Coordinate - what was imagined at the creation of the constitution - independent autonomy - Inclusive - as governments became larger - this is what the gov relations developed into - dependent and hierarchical - with funding the federal gov has power over the smaller

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ones Overlapping - as governments became even larger - they are interdependent negotiation - varies from policy area to policy area - of all of them working together

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Executive branch agency - Executive Branch - President - Cabinets (Secretaries of... dif departments ex: defence) - each of them have assistants with a hierarchical structure - each level is responsible for a dif aspect of government Independent agency Independent executive agency - appointed administrator who has major policymaking and implementation responsibilities for a specific policy area - Ex: EPA or FBI Independent regulatory commision Public corporation - board appointed by the government - profits go back to fund the corporation - no profits paid to employees - functions like private - - government agencies that operate largely like private corporations - their boards are appointed by the government and they don’t have profits - Ex: Post Office - supposed to be self-funding - Ex: TVA - Large power company -

Quasi-governmental organization - Their boards can be appointed by others besides the government - they can also have profits - Ex: Amtrak - public transportation that was created when private ones were going bankrupt Iron triangles - Interest groups - need the administrative agency to provide services - need the congressional committee as an advocate - Congressional committees - need interest groups to mobilize voters - Administrative agencies - need interest groups to mobilize support - State and local governments are excluded from this model as well as unofficial players - Also assumes that these policy silos are separate and don’t overlap - but most representatives and such work on multiple issues - Hecklo - calls for a need of a policy or issue networks - says policy exists Issue networks - informal arrangemenst where much policy making occurs in less formal settings or venues and involves polict acotrs within particular issue areas such as national defense, , communications, forestry - the areas of specialization and the people and institutions active in them reflect the fact that decision making takes place below the level of the full system of government Key concept: Weber’s characteristics of a bureaucracy - Administrative class - full time employees - salary based on position - tenure according to rules - employed based on competence - Hierarchy - 3 characteristics of hierarchical gov: - 1) Tenure - once they are hired they are hard to fire - partly to keep politics out of it (can’t be fired for doing something that may be unpopular - put in place by pendleton act) also so can’t put who you like into it 2) neutral - everything based on rules and procedures - to protect both the bureaucrats and the citizens - there to make the system fair - pitfalls - there is no flexibility for current times - no special situations 3) professionals/experts - so people in those positions actually know what they are doing - Division of work - Official rules - Impersonal relationships - Official record Class 4 Key terms: Elite theory - emphasizes how the values and preferences of governing elites which differ from those of the public at large, affect public policy development - primary assumption is that the values and preferences of the general public are less influential in shaping public policy than those of a smaller unrepresentative group, or elites. - Elite theory

- There are elite players that make most of the political decisions - Often assist their friends in positions - They don’t experience the downside of policies Group theory - sees public policy as the product of a continuous strugg;e among organized interest groups - power is pluralistic - Group theory - Coalitions of interest groups shape policy - Ex: groups interested in that may shift - right now people are interested in border security Institutional theory - emphasizes the formal and legal aspects of government structure - the structures and rules make a big difference in the kinds of policy process that occur and which policy actors are likely to be influential in them - Institutional theory - The formal structure and rules and procedures are what is important in how policy is shaped - What does institutionalism fail to account for? societal contacts Rational choice theory - assumes that in making decisions, individuals are rational actors, that is, they seek to maximize attainment of their preferences or further their self interest - goal is to predict how individuals wi;; behave under a variety of conditions - Rational choice theory - We all try to act with rational self-interest - even our policy makers - trying to get what they believe in advanced or get reelected - Satisficing - they make the best decision they can with the limited information that they have Political systems theory - the political system respons to demands and support in the process of policymaking and produces outputs (decisions, law and policies) that over time create real changes (called policy outcomes) in the situtations taht prompted the demands and support in the first place - Political systems theory - Deals with the policy choices/outputs/outcomes - There are debates within society on what the proper choices are - what approaches should be taken to solve a problem - These become outputs and then outcomes - creates a feedback look that leads to new choices - As long as this works it is considered valid Policy instruments - Regulation - Government management - Education, information, and persuasion - Taxing and spending - Market mechanisms Instruments of public policy - Law - they can pass them - it underscores everything that gov does - Goods and Services - they can be provided directly or indirectly (agent or contractor or

subsidize private sector) - education - road repair - planned parent hood Money - students (financial aid) - state workers (their pay) - any entitlement programs social security - they give grants to states - aid to other countries - research and development money (to universities or private sector) - Taxes - in order to encourage or discourage behavior - sin taxes - on alcohol or cigarettes - tax cuts can encourage people - tax deductions like on charities - subsidies on electric vehicles - homeowners get a deduction on their mortgage interest and their property tax (maybe) - it's good - because you take out a loan which is good for the economy and improve your home - we value it - but not fair to renters - Other economic instruments - Setting interest rates lower to encourage investment or vice versa - Persuasion - Through educational programs - Ex: don’t drink and drive - The legislator or president goes on TV and tries to tell you what to support Policy cycle - Agenda setting to policy formation to policy adoption to policy implementation to policy evaluation to either policy termination or change to agenda setting - Policies are very seldom terminated - but they are often changes -

Discussion agenda - Systematic (discussion)- all those matters people are talking and

worrying about - Systematic agendas turn into institutional agenda when a lot of people agree on it Action agenda - Institutional (action) - the problems which gov officials deel obliged to give active and serious attention Agenda denial - Some groups work to keep items off the agenda - Strats: there's no problem - it’s not appropriate for government - it’ll be worse if gov acts - it's better solved by private means - Create a commission (make it look like you are doing something/publish a report/but nothing really ever comes of it) - electoral activity (reactive mean - form of protest - trying to get rid of some policy) Power Def: a fundamental to all models of policymaking - Can be manifested in several ways in policy making - One actor may be capable of achieving goals in policy fights - Can also be a veto power - Power to prevent action or the power to prevent issues from being considered - policy making process in the US involves countervailing power not simply the exercise of power Log rolling - the trading of favors - ex: vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member Pork barrel spending - attempts of elected ffficials such as congress members to provide government programs and swevices that directly benefit their constituents - tend to be noncontroversial and invisible - added onto large spending and bedget bills - A legislative spending that is allocated to a legislators distrcit without any meaningful debate or oversight Issue attention cycle Issue-Attention Cycle - Anthony Downs lists five stages or an issue-attention cycle - Pre-problem stage (lacks public attention) - experts care but public doesn’t - Alarmed discovery/euphoric enthusiasm - Realization of the cost of significant progress - Gradual decline in intensity or public interest - Post-problem stage - Ex: security checks demanded after 9/11 - Just because you have passed through one of these steps doesn’t mean you are doomed to complete the whole cycle - may even be bumped up in the cycle (like if another crisis) - Ex: mass shootings - Ex: levy security after hurricane - Ex: Global Warming - Ex: Shark attacks

Study Guide - Term - fair game for short answer and multiple choice - Concept - will potentially ask about in the essay question - 2-3 para anser - dif between b and A - is b - spit out the correct facts - A - you provide and example or link it to

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another issue policy or concept in the class Ex: policy environment - describe it and its effect on policy decision making? Federalism - describe us structure and how that underscores fragmented policy making? Doesn;t require us to draw diagrams but we can use them in answers Be able to recogmize wrights models of IGR - be able to recognize the dif models...