GOVT 350 Exam 1
Politics - ANS-conflict, struggle, cooperation, and collaboration over the leadership,
structure, and policies of government
Government - ANS-the institutions and procedures through which a land and its people
are ruled; organizations with people who have formal power to make policy
Public policy process - ANS-- problem identification → policy formulation → policy
adoption → policy implementation → policy evaluation → problem identification (and the
cycle goes on)
Characteristics of american system - ANS-- founders anticipated negative
consequences of concentrated power, thus policymaking authority is fragmented by
design
- separation of powers
- federalism
Separation of powers - ANS-- a division of power among the three branches of the
federal government to act as checks and balances (judicial vs. federal vs. legislative)
- requires coalitions within and across different branches, as otherwise nothing would
happen
- numerous "veto points" wherein a specific branch can prevent policy from passing
Federalism - ANS-- constitutional allocation of governmental powers between federal
and state governments (local vs. federal)
- state power: reserve powers not specifically given to the federal govt (amendments 9 +
10)
- federal power: expressed and implied powers given to federal govt by the constitution;
supremacy clause (article VI) gives supremacy of federal law when there are conflicts
between federal and state laws
- both singular (implied, express, reserved) and shared (concurrent) powers among
federal and state governments
- centralization continuum: see slides; US is in the confederation category, thus we are
more decentralized
,- full faith and credit clause: states are to recognize actions and decisions taken in other
states as legal and proper
- comity clause: state cannot discriminate against someone from another state or give
special privileges to its own residents
- local governments not granted any formal power in the constitution; thus states give
larger cities "home rule" in their states
Dual federalism - ANS-1789-1937
- both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres,
each responsible for some policies
- states held most important powers
- kept separate and distinct for the most part
- new deal led to larger role of federal govt, which led to cooperative federalism
Cooperative federalism - ANS-1937-1960s
- the federal and state governments worked with each other
- led to a rise in grants-in-aid (federal government gives states grants for particular
spending purposes)
Regulated federalism - ANS-1960s-1990s
- federal govt dictates national standards states must meet or rules states must follow,
or states lose money
- led to a rise in unfunded mandates (national standards or programs imposed on state
and local governments without accompanying funding)
- threats to take away state money
New federalism - ANS-1990s-present
- efforts to craft national policies to return more discretion to the states
- reformed unfunded mandates
- increased use of block grants with fewer federal restrictions
- more narrow interpretation of interstate commerce clause by the courts
Recent trends in federalism - ANS-- reagan, h.w. bush, clinton decentralized
- w. bush and obama centralized
Separation of powers overtime - ANS-- generally, a growth in executive power
(executive orders overtime have increased) and judicial power
- congress less effective because of polarization and major gridlock (maybe not less
powerful, but certainly less effective); no way that they have rational and real
disagreements over every single piece of legislation, it's because they are fighting to
, take institutional control, and fighting against or for legislation will give them a greater
shot at maintaining / gaining party majority
Growth of government - ANS-- government has become larger, more expensive, more
influential, and more complex since it's founding
Policy - ANS-purposive course of action or inaction followed by an actor or set of actors
in dealing with a problem or matter of concern
Public policy - ANS-purposive course of action followed by the government in dealing
with a problem or matter of concern; essentially, a policy formulated by those with formal
authority
Characteristics of public policy - ANS-1. policy is purposive: designed to produce certain
results or achieve certain goals
2. defined by course of action of government over time (not one choice)
3. typically responsive to political demands by groups (both for policy and for policy
results)
4. policy can be negative or positive
5. implemented using coercion
3 stages of public policy - ANS-1. policy choices: decisions made by politicians, civil
servants, or others granted authority that are directed toward using public power to
affect the lives of citizens
2. policy outputs: policy choices put into action by government administration (what
government actually does)
3. policy impacts: the effects of policy outputs on outcomes
Constituent or governance policy - ANS-policies involving either the structure of
government or procedure; reforming governmental institutions (ex: creation or
reorganization of administrative agencies)
Distributive policy - ANS-- allocation of services or benefits at no charge to particular
segments of the population
- diffused costs and concentrated benefits
- increases freedom or discretion of group that benefits (ex: education, pork barrel, etc.)
Regulatory policy - ANS-- involve imposing restrictions or limitations on the behavior of
individuals and groups
- limits the behavior of a group to the benefit of others
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