1. How does viewing politics as a system influence our perception of public administrators and their role in policy making? Given the great diversity of U.S. society, is value conflict inevitable? How can value conflict in administration be viewed as beneficial to the “system”?
a. By viewing politics as a system, it changes our perception (well, it changes my perception) of public administrators by making us see that they are only a piece of the puzzle in this policy making picture. The public administrators aren’t the entire picture so they alone can’t do anything. They need other administrators or pieces of the puzzle in order for the policies to be created and to work. Value conflict is inevitable in the U.S. because the U.S. is made up of so many different people of different races and religions and they all have different points of view on things and the various points of view are bound to clash in one way or another. Value conflict in an administration can be viewed as beneficial to the “system” because it allows the public administrators to open their eyes to all the possible solutions and policies that can be made to several problems. It allows them to keep from having tunnel vision and to be open minded and seek a lot of types of feedback to help them do a successful job at running the government.
2. In what ways does a political party perform the linkage role? How do parties facilitate changes in values? How do parties help coordinate governmental policy making and implement policy toward a given goal?
a. Political parties perform linkage roles by forming a link or a bond between the policy makers and the citizens. They allow for the citizens to do such things as voice their opinions to policy makers through things such as pocket meetings. Parties facilitate changes in values by employing patronage and making use of third parties to help citizens further voice their opinions and concerns. Parties help coordinate governmental policy making and implement policy toward a given goal through communication. Parties constantly communicate with the policy makers to find out what is going on and to relay it to the citizens. Policy can only be implemented toward a given goal successfully if the citizens are in on it and that is exactly what the political parties do. They make sure the citizens know what are going on and continuously seek their input and support.
3. How do interest groups help articulate values? How do they influence which values dominate public administration at any given time? Describe their role in forging a dominant political culture.
a. Interest groups help articulate values by keeping communication between agencies and legislatures. They have a very important role because interest groups revise draft policy proposals and influence appointments to importants positions in administrative agencies.
4. In what ways does government manage the economy? Why do economic forces contribute to so many value conflicts? Can the economy be better managed through technological development? How does technology complicate value conflict in the political system? In public administration?
a. The government manages the economy by making cutbacks or distributing more money to different agencies. It also uses taxes to help manage the economy. Economic forces contribute to so many value conflicts because money is a huge issue in today’s society. You need money for everything and it is hard to come by. Technological development could help better manage the economy just like with the computer making many things easier to manage. Technology complicates value conflict in the political system and public administration because technology allows for so much more access to many problems such as access to pornography, ability to hack in to government and public administration systems and records, etc.
Key Terms
1. Affirmative Action- the removal of all barriers to employment of minority groups; compensatory plans for disadvantaged groups, as in specific programs to recruit, hire, and promote qualified members of designated disadvantaged groups so as to eliminate the continuing effects of prior discrimination.
2. Captive Agency- An agency whose personnel and decision makers are directly or indirectly influenced by outside interest from the very industry the agency is required to regulate or serve.
3. Clientele Agency- A bureaucratic agency that serves, protects, and promotes the interest of those it was established to oversee, often at the expense of the general public rather than organized special interest groups.
4. Conscientious Objection- State laws that allows doctors to refuse to perform a procedure to which they have fundamental moral objection (e.g., abortions).
5. Earmarked- funds or tax revenue from a given source, that legally must be spent for a given program or service. For example, gasoline taxes must be spent on highway construction or maintenance.
6. Ecology- The study of the relationship of living things to their natural environment.
7. Ecosystem- Any collection of plants, animals, and nonliving things that interact with one another within their environment.
8. Externalities- Positive or negative effects of one thing that entail costs to another.
9. Grassroots Lobbying- A type or method of lobbying in which an interest group uses its own rank-and-file membership to send mass mailings, work phone banks, send mass emails, phone talk -radio shows, and walk the halls of the legislature to marshal public opinion and government policy toward its position on an issue.
10. Ideology- A comprehensive and logical set of beliefs about human nature and the role of government and how its institutions should be organized and managed.
11. Iron Triangle- A type of sub-government; refers to the three angles of the policy process for a particular policy area- (1) the bureaucrats who implement a policy. (2) the law-makers and staff members who adopt a policy, and (3) the lobbyist from “clientele” interest groups- all of them working both formally and informally on specific policy issues.
12. Issue networks- A temporary collection of lobbyist, lawmakers, staff members, bureaucrats, and experts who collaborate to shape a particular policy.
13. Linkage institutions- Agencies, such as political parties, interest groups, and the media, that forge links between citizens and public policy makers.
14. Merit system- The selection, retention, and promotion of public employees based on competitive examinations or formal educational qualification.
15. Multiculturalism- The belief that the many cultures make up American society ought to be maintained as distinct and that laws should be used to protect and even encourage them; the value of appreciating the richness of cultural diversity.
16. NIMBY- The acronym for ”not in my backyard” ; donates opposition to certain government programs or facilities deemed undesirable but that are or could be located in one’s neighborhood or area; typical example are sewage-treatment plants, solid-waste recycling plants, and prisons.
17. Partial-birth abortion- A medical procedure to terminate pregnancy during the last trimester in which doctors crush the cranium of the fetus and then induce delivery.
18. Party in government- All the people from a party who hold public office.
19. Party platform- A document drawn up by a political party at its state or national convention that establishes the party’s policies and positions on current public issues.
20. Patronage- The practice of awarding government jobs and contracts to faithful members of the political party in power.
21. Political culture- The cluster of attitudes, ideology, beliefs, and values that shape our thinking of society and government and the role of the individual within both of them; the part of the overall societal culture that determines societal attitudes toward the quality, style, and strength of its political and governmental processes.
22. Political party- A group of politically active individuals who organize for the purpose of capturing government by controlling the nomination of election of officials and thereby control of the operation of government and determine public policy.
23. Proposition 209- An initiative passed in California that ended affirmative action programs by banning the use of preferences in state hiring and contracting and in admissions to public colleges and universities.
24. Reverse discrimination- The perception that social programs to promote integration are racial preferences that promote the interest of minorities at the expense of members of the majority (usually considered to be white and male).
25. Set-aside programs- A type of affirmative action program that includes the use of quotas (set-aside percentages) to award government contracts to minority businesses.
26. Spin-off party- A minor, or third, party that begins as a faction within a major party, such as the Bull Moose Republicans or the Dixiecrats.
27. Systems model- The concept that things are viewed as more than the sum of a collection of parts; an entity in which everything relates to everything else.
Source: Public Administration: Clashing Values in the Administration of Public Policy
Author: Michael C. LeMay
