Hi, everyone! This thread will serve as a review for exam #2 (I'll go over this review in class on Wednesday as well). Exam #2 takes place in class on Friday, October 18. It will be of similar format to exam #1. You simply need to bring pen and photo ID.
To prepare for the quiz, you should read through the blog assignment on term limits for legislators). You should be familiar with my post, the articles I link to, and the comments of your colleagues. In terms of material covered in class, you should be familiar with all of the material on legislatures, as well as all of the material on governors (all from the third set of lecture notes), and all the material on the bureaucracy (from the fourth set of lecture notes). Both sets of lecture notes were distributed in class and are also on the blog. Specifically, from class, you should be familiar with:
The reasons people run for the legislature.
The different types of representation people expect from legislators.
The professionalization of the legislature.
Legislative norms and cue voting.
Committees in the legislature.
Gerrymandering and Multimember districts.
The increased power of governors.
The line item veto, including its variations, and arguments for and against it.
Why governors have a harder time getting reelected than do other officials.
The reasons for the growth of bureaucracy.
The general characteristics of bureaucracy.
The problems and good points with bureaucracy.
The ways in which elected officials control bureaucracy.
I will have my usual office hours on Wednesday, but no office hours on Friday, in case you want to ask questions. You can also email them to me at the email address on the syllabus. Finally, you can use the comments section on this thread for questions. You'll then be able to ask your questions on the blog and read my answers to questions from other students in the class. Because I will be out of town on University business, email and online questions must be asked by 3 pm on Thursday. Good luck!
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ReplyDeleteThat's about 90 minutes of lecturing. I would suggest that the best way to proceed is for you to review the lecture notes on those points, and then ask questions to clarify. You can find those under section IV of the legislature (from the pink set of notes, #3), section II of governors (also pink set, #3), and sections V and VI of bureaucracy (on the blue set, #4).
ReplyDeleteCould you briefly explain Casework representation and Symbolic. I understand Pork Barrel and Policy Representation.
DeleteCasework is where a representative helps her/his constituents with problems with the bureaucracy (driver's license issue, getting copy of deed on house, etc.). Symbolic representation is where a legislator makes her/his constituents' feelings known in the capital (not just their views, but their passions). An example was the legislator who gave out comic books where he was a knight in shining armor who would slay the evil bureaucracy.
DeleteDr. Berch, can you please explain the courtesy and reciprocity aspects of legislative norms and puff-ball legislation? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCourtesy is necessary in the legislature because they deal with a great many contentious issues. So, they often refer to each other as "The distinguished member from ...County", etc. Reciprocity is a norm that says, "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." If someone votes for your bill, you vote for theirs. Puffball legislation (as mentioned in class today) is a way that the legislature deals with big, complex, technical, but controversial issues by passing a general framework (the puffball) and then letting the unelected bureaucrats fill in the details in such a way as to meet the general principles of the bill. Each time they do this, the size of the bureaucracy grows, as they need to hire more bureaucrats to make the technical decisions.
DeleteDr. Berch, can you please briefly explain the problems and good points with bureaucracy?
ReplyDeleteAgain, this is pretty much straight out of the lecture notes (from last Friday, when attendance was very low). See sections V and VI of the Bureaucracy notes (first page of the notes #4, the blue one). Good points include fairness (which we demonstrated in class with the Marlboro College example) and that the bureaucracy often makes regulations that protect the public. Problems include it being hard to fire bad employees, hard to get rid of useless agencies, the impersonality of the bureaucracy, the difficulty that elected officials have controlling the bureaucracy (though some think that's a good thing), and the overlap between agencies.
ReplyDeleteProf. Berch, Can you explain sunset laws? Also legislative norms and cue voting?
ReplyDeleteStarting point on last part should be lecture notes (we also covered cue voting in the review in class yesterday). Sunset laws are a way that elected officials try to limit bureaucratic power. They establish an agency for a specified time period. At the end of that time, it goes out of existence unless renewed by the legislature. The idea is that this is a way of getting rid of outdated or poorly performing bureaucratic agencies. However, sunset laws can hurt morale and make it difficult to hire the best people.
ReplyDeleteLegislative norms are the informal rules that help the legislature to function (a list of them is in the lecture outline on the legislature; too long to discuss adequately here).
Cue voting is a result of legislators not being able to read every word of every bill, and having to vote on a lot of bills, especially at the end of the session. When a legislator doesn't know about a bill, s/he looks for a cue from someone who thinks like they do but knows something about the bill. Most often, it's someone from the same party and the same part of the state. The explanation I gave during the review session was longer and better, but hopefully this helps.
Prof. Berch, can you briefly explain Oversight and Gubernatorial appointment for how elected official control bureaucracy ?
ReplyDeleteOversight is where a legislative committee calls the head of a bureaucratic agency in for a public hearing, where they berate the official over the policy they disagree with, often generating publicity that forces change in policy.
DeleteThe governor can also appoint a new agency head (while most bureaucrats have job security, the leaders of the bureaucracy serve at the pleasure of the governor) who will do what the governor wants. The only problem is sometimes bureaucrats ignore their bosses (and the bureaucracy is so large that the bosses don't always notice)
Will you please post the lecture notes from the previous classes
ReplyDeleteDone. Please note that only the sections on the legislature and governors (from lecture notes #3), as well as the bureaucracy (from lecture notes #4) are relevant for exam #2 (also fair game is the blog assignment on term limits for legislators, all as noted in the review sheet).
DeleteCan you explain job security for the characteristics of a bureaucracy?
ReplyDeleteAfter a probationary period, people working in the bureaucracy have great job security. This is necessary to enforce merit-based hiring, as well as to allow bureaucrats to avoid political pressure, but it can lead to people slacking off as well.
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