What are the advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy as it exists in contemporary political systems? Under what conditions would a non-bureaucratic form of administration be desirable?
What will be an ideal response?
The ideal answer should include:
1. A bureaucracy is a particular structure and set of processes through which the administration can operate.
2. Advantages: A well-structured bureaucracy can help citizens navigate their government and can act as a deterrent to corruption. A well-functioning bureaucracy (Weberian bureaucracy) provides predictability, fairness, and standardization.
3. Disadvantages: But there are also many contemporary political systems, and even more examples historically, in which public administrators treat people unpredictably or with clear biases. Some criticisms of bureaucracy are really directed at all large administrative structures that exercise increasing control over people's lives and that seem too large and too powerful. Fundamentally, the bureaucracy label has come to connote a system that is too inflexible and impersonal.
4. Despite criticisms of its occasional excesses in practice, most people conclude that they would prefer a Weberian bureaucracy to one that is arbitrary, discriminatory, or corrupt.
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In the general election for governor, the Democratic candidate received 48 percent of the vote, the Republican received 47 percent of the vote, and the Libertarian Candidate got 5 percent. What is the outcome of the general election?
a) The Democratic candidate wins because the Democrat got the most votes. b) The Democratic candidate wins because the Democrat got a majority of the votes cast. c) The election is held again with all three candidates competing because no one candidate got a majority of the vote. d) The Democrat and the Republican face each other in a runoff because no candidate received a majority of the votes cast and they were the top two finishers. e) The Democratic candidate is elected governor and the Republican candidate becomes the lieutenant governor because he or she received the second highest number of votes.
When one does not have the ability to , one may consider using quasi-experimental designs
a. measure the dependent variable quantitatively b. randomly assign participants to groups c. manipulate the independent variable d. make multiple measures of the dependent variable