American Government

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American Government
Describe the three defining features of a bureaucracy. Three defining features of a bureaucracy are hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules. Hierarchical authority is the federal food chain whereby one person reports to a more senior person and the individual highest on that chain has more powers to make decisions and many people at the bottom have little powers. Job Specialization means each person in the federation has specific tasks and duties to perform instead of several things. Formalized Rules mean that there are well laid down procedures with which the bureaucracy works.
List some of the more common names given to the various agencies in the executive branch?
Independent Regulatory commissions
Independent Executive Agencies
Government corporations
Cabinet departments
What is the difference between a staff agency and a line agency? Staff agencies advise, line agencies carry out tasks. To run an organization the chief officers and other administrators need to be assisted and supported and this is where the staff agencies come in and they include the office of the president, whereas line agencies set out to accomplish specific tasks for the organization.
Which agency in the Executive Office of the President has the largest impact on foreign affairs? is The agency most involved in foreign affairs is the National Security Council. Members include top cabinet secretaries, the vice president, the president, and security advisors.

Describe the major duties of the Office of Management and Budget? Predominantly the Office of the Management of Budget assesses funding priorities and prepares a federal budget federal in line with the administration’s policies (Kaplan and Norton n.p ). It is also evaluates spending plans and monitors the effectiveness of agency expenditures lest they overburden the taxpayer.
How can the federal budget be used to advance the President’s policy agenda? Since the Office of the Management of Budget serves the president and one of its functions is to align federal expenditures with the administration’s policies, it follows that the president’s agenda can be easily achieved by how the OMB operates. Besides, monitoring Congress budget appropriations gives the president the last say since the OMB works under the presidency (Kaplan and Norton n.p ).
How does the White House Office help the President fulfill the role of the chief administrator? The people who work directly under the president are usually handpicked to assist him in running the affairs of his government. These affairs include the oversight of the many federal workers in the executive branch. Being on top of that chain of command and having all his assistants report to him makes him the overall manager, and administrator of that arm of government.
How were the executive departments created? It is the Congress that creates executive departments, but the president decides who holds them albeit with the Senate’s approval. The first departments included the State (Foreign affairs) department, Department of Defense/War, and the Treasury and this happened in 1789. To date, this number has grown to 15.
How are the executive department secretaries and attorney general selected? What personal and professional factors are considered in the selection process? It is the president who appoints the attorney general and department executives, but the nominees have to be vetted and approved by the Senate. Constitutionally, there are no qualifications for the cabinet nominees, but usually a president would look into a strong background and experience in the particular department, good administrative skills, and a reputation that will through vetting without glitches. Personal loyalty to the president sometimes is rewarded with a cabinet appointment, while other heads of state would make these appointments based on ethnicity or demographics.
How have various Presidents differed in their reliance on the Cabinet?
Much as various presidents promise to work with their cabinet choices, some prefer consulting with personal friends, or white house advisors. It is known that JF Kennedy liked consulting with his brother who even though was the attorney general at the time, was not constitutionally mandated to offer advice on external policy like Cuba Missile Crisis. On the other hand, President Carter preferred working closely with his cabinet (Hoxie 225).
Compare the Cabinet of today with the first Cabinet under President Washington. (a) How are the two alike? (b) How do they differ? (c) Why do you think the size of the Cabinet has grown since Washington’s day? Several things might have changed around the executive of departments but the roles cardinal role of the cabinet secretaries have not. Even today they still advise the president at his request. The number has grown from four heads of departments to 15 today. A cabinet meeting today has 16 members the president and the vice president included, but the first vice president was never invited to cabinet meetings (Hoxie 213). The attorney general sat in the meetings even though the department of Justice had not been established. The size of the cabinet has grown due to the dividing of the major departments into smaller ones and the emergence of new departments as the needs arose.
What was the spoils system and what replaced it? It was a system in which the president could sack public office holders and in their place put his cronies and party loyalists. The Civil Service Merit System replaced it in 1883 in which dictated employment should be based on individual merit (Gailmard and Patty 875).
How do independent regulatory commissions differ from the many other independent agencies? Regulatory commissions are run independent of the three main arms of government and are reinforced by law to make legislations and decide disputes. In short, the commission is in charge of a specific function while the independent agency is a whole organization representing a business.
a) How are government corporations similar to private corporations? (b) How are they different? Government corporations normally supply a specific service that is also supplied by private corporations like the postal service. The difference between the two is that the government corporations charge lower rates.

Works Cited
Gailmard, Sean, and John W. Patty. “Slackers and zealots: Civil service, policy discretion, and bureaucratic expertise.” American Journal of Political Science 51.4 (2007): 873-889.
Hoxie, R. Gordon. “The Cabinet in the American Presidency, 1789-1984.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 14.2 (1984): 209-230.
Kaplan, Robert S., and David P. Norton. “The office of strategy management.” Strategic Finance 87.4 (2005): 8.