PART A:
Answer only one of the two questions in this PART A. Your answer should not exceed three double-spaced pages, 12-point font, and 1 inch margin on all sides. Five points will be subtracted for not following instructions. I will also not read any pages beyond the page limit.
Question 1
There have been various attempts and approaches to reform the federal budget. Write an essay on budget reform addressing the following:
a) The justification for reforming the federal budget;
b) The various measures that have been proposed and/or employed to reform the federal budget including the successes and failures of each of these measures;
c) The legal/constitutional challenges or issues that have been involved in trying to reform the budget and the results of these legal/constitutional challenges, and.
d) The current type of budgeting employed by the federal government and why does it exist.
Question 2
There are various institutions that legitimize public policies. Write an essay on policy legitimation addressing the following:
a) Compare and contrast the process of policy legitimation and decision making among these institutions with respect to the criteria of majoritarianism/democracy, finality, logrolling, budgetary process, capture, and oversight.
b) Discuss the source(s) of legal authority for each of the institutions to legitimize policy, and
c) Discuss the factors or characteristics of a legitimating institution that makes it amenable to capture.
PART B: Answer only two of the three questions in this PART B. Your answer to each question should not exceed two double-spaced pages. 12- point font, and one-Inch margin on all sides.
Question 1:
It is said that redundancies exist in the organizational structure of the federal government. Substantiate this statement and provide some examples. Discuss also the advantages and disadvantages of redundancies in the federal government.
Question 2 :
Research indicates that standard operating procedure (SOP) contributes positively and negatively to policy implementation. A standard approach has been recommended for dealing with the negative effect of SOP on policy implementation. However, an assessment of Pressman and Wildavisky's theory on policy implementation suggest that the standard approach may still serve as an impediment to reaching agreement on policy implementation.
Discuss this standard approach to limiting the constraining effect of SOP. How can this approach still be an impediment to reaching an agreement on policy implementation?
Question 3
It is said that the policy making process is continuous and never ending process. Substantiate this statement and also explain how and why this may be the case.
PART C.
Fill in the Blanks; Write the correct answer for each question in the space provided on the answer sheet located on the last page of the exam.
1) Although there are usual possible outcomes when a program or policy is evaluated, the most probable outcome is:
2). The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is located in which of the three branches of government?
3) _____ performs some of the same functions in Congress as _____does in the Executive Office of the President.
4) _____ is a belief on the pan of citizens that the current government represents a proper form of government and a willingness on the pan of those citizens to accept the decrees of the government as legal and authoritative.
5) A _____ is a vote of the people on an issue put to than by the legislature or some other authoritative body.
6) The federal government agency dui audits to makes sure that funds allocated in the federal budget are spent under legal authority is the
7) An expenditure decision that is not actually made through the %mut appropriation process is referred to as
8) ______ is a series of automatic cuts imposed unilaterally across domestic and defense spending programs - was passed during the Reagan administration as an amendment to an earlier political battle ova raising the debt ceiling .
9) A problem in policy implementation when officials attempt to transmit only the information they belief their superiors wish to hear is called
10) Administrative or independent regulatory bodies issue binding regulations that are subsidiary to congressional legislation. These regulations are called
11) _____ is the process by which regulatory agencies eventually come to be dominated by the very industries they were charged with regulating. It happens when a regulatory agency, formed to act in the public's interest, eventually acts in ways that benefit the industry it is supposed to be regulating, rather than the public.
12) A program can be effective and not be efficient? A) True B) False
13) A program can be efficient and still not effective. A) True B) False
14) What do the initial steps in policy implementation and policy evaluation have in common?
15) The Police Chief of Theft Town has hired you to evaluate their theft reduction. Assume that the recipients of your report arc not experts in policy evaluation. Your report will be submitted to the Policy Chief who will submit it to the City Manager, then to the City Mayor. and finally to the City Council for consideration. The Police Chief also informed you that there is usually an S5 percent probability that a recommendation is implemented in the THEFT-TOWN government structure. Find the probability that your recommendation would be implemented.
Briefly explain what it means:
PART D
A paradox in the field of public administration is that it takes bureaucracy to control bureaucracy. Explain.