Module 6: Week 6
Quiz: The Bureaucracy
28 out of 30
1. Why did the Civil War lead to an expansion of the bureaucracy?
a. Fighting the war led to the hiring of many new officials and the creation of new
offices.
2. Bureaucratic imperialism is the tendency of agencies to do what?
a. Grow, regardless of the benefits and costs of their programs
3. What was the purpose of the Pendleton Act of 1883?
a. To reduce patronage by creating a civil service
4. The number of civilians working for the federal bureaucracy has not increased much
since 1960. This observation fails to account for which of the following?
a. The growing number of people who work indirectly for the government
5. Which of the following is an example of a bureaucracy?
a. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
6. Which of the following statements about the civil service is accurate?
a. Reform of the civil service first began under President Jimmy Carter in 1978.
7. What is one benefit of our current government-by-proxy system?
a. It provides flexibility and takes advantage of private and nonprofit skills.
8. The power of the House Appropriations Committee over agency budgets has recently
diminished, in part because of what?
a. Congressional concerned with meeting spending limits
9. What do critics of the government-by-proxy system argue is problematic about this
system?
a. It does not keep track of how the money we send to public and private agencies is
used.
10. During the early years of the federal government, which of these was the only department
to hold significant power?
a. Treasury Department
11. Why are iron triangles less common today than they once were?
a. Agencies today are pressured by so many interest groups.
12. In the First Congress, it was decided that appointed federal officials would be removable
by whom?
a. The president alone
13. Many of the problems of bureaucracy in the government arise from what?
a. The political context
14. Which of the following is responsible for oversight of the national bureaucracy?
a. Congress
15. Which of the following describes the representation of African Americans and other
minorities in the federal civil service?
a. Underrepresented at the executive level
16. Bureaucratic inefficiency may be desirable in that it might help to do what?
a. Protect our liberties
17. During most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, appointments to the civil service
were based primarily on what?
a. Patronage
18. A federal employee who was appointed by the president with the explicit task of carrying
out the president's political and partisan agenda would be known as which of the
following?
a. A political appointee
19. A Post Office worker or Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent would typically be
part of the federal bureaucracy known as what?
a. The excepted service
20. If it were necessary to create a new cabinet-level department today, which of the
following has the authority to do that?
a. Congress
21. If you want to see the information the federal government has about you or about certain
other subjects, how can you make the government release that information to you?
a. File a request under the Freedom of Information Act
22. Why does conflict among agencies exist?
a. Some agencies seem to be working at cross-purposes with other agencies.
23. What is a major concern with the tendency of imperialism among agencies?
a. They grow without regard to whether they are actually providing benefits.
24. Which of these is the ability of a congressional committee to review and approve certain
agency decisions in advance and without passing a law?
a. Legislative veto
25. The <buddy system= allows an agency to circumvent the usual Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) search process by doing what?
a. Tailoring a job description to a specific candidate
26. What is the key group of a president’s advisers, who are responsible for the areas under
their jurisdiction, known as?
a. The cabinet
27. The discretionary authority of appointed officials is their authority to do which of the
following?
a. Make policies that are not spelled out in advance by laws
28. Fundamental to the core of the federal bureaucracy is the presumption that the people
who hold bureaucratic positions have which of the following?
a. Expertise
29. When the government sets limits on ingredients found in prescription medications or on
factory emissions, this would be an example of which of the following?
a. Regulation
30. Which of the following best describes how the major cabinet departments of the federal
government were created?
a. Through congressional legislation
