Bureaucracy and Accountability
This organizational form uses specialized labor, hierarchical authority, and formal rules to coordinate work.
What is bureaucracy?
This field examines how revenue, spending responsibilities, and financial resources are distributed across levels of government.
What is fiscal federalism?
This regulatory technique imposes a legally enforceable obligation, regardless of whether a government accepts federal grant money.
What is a direct order?
This term describes relationships among governments at different levels, such as federal and state governments.
What is vertical federalism?
This governing arrangement formally brings public agencies and nonstate stakeholders into collective, consensus-oriented decision-making.
What is collaborative governance?
This system selects government employees based on qualifications rather than political loyalty.
What is a merit system?
This grant type restricts funding to a relatively narrow purpose or activity.
What is a categorical grant?
This requirement applies across multiple federally assisted programs, such as a broadly applicable nondiscrimination condition.
What is a crosscutting requirement?
This term describes relationships among governments at the same level, such as neighboring municipalities.
What is horizontal federalism?
These initial circumstances include power differences, incentives to participate, and a history of conflict or cooperation.
What are starting conditions?
In a principal-agent relationship, this actor delegates responsibility to another actor.
Who is the principal?
This grant type supports a broad policy area while giving recipients discretion among eligible uses.
What is a block grant?
This technique threatens funding in one program area to encourage a policy change in another.
What is a crossover sanction?
This agreement allows local governments to share services, equipment, or costs.
What is an interlocal agreement?
This leadership approach promotes participation, builds trust, facilitates dialogue, and explores mutual gains.
What is facilitative leadership?
This information problem occurs when an agent knows more about its work than the principal can readily observe.
What is information asymmetry?
This allocation method distributes grant funds using established measures such as population or need.
What is a formula allocation?
Under this arrangement, states may administer a program meeting federal standards; otherwise, the federal government administers it.
What is partial preemption?
This legal agreement between states addresses shared problems or advances a common agenda.
What is an interstate compact?
This component of collaboration establishes the forum’s participation rules, procedures, and ground rules.
What is institutional design?
This form of legislative oversight relies on complaints or reports from affected people and organizations to draw attention to problems.
What is fire-alarm oversight?
This funding requirement makes recipients contribute some of their own resources toward a grant-supported activity.
What is a matching requirement?
Unlike a condition attached to voluntarily accepted funding, this type of obligation requires compliance through legal authority.
What is a mandate?
This feature of the governmental system disperses authority among many jurisdictions, creating coordination challenges when problems cross boundaries.
What is fragmentation?
These intermediate accomplishments help participants build trust and commitment before tackling larger disagreements.
What are small wins?