Bureaucracy
Congress
Presidency
Supreme Court
100
The FAA let Boeing self-certify aircraft safety. Which oversight model does this illustrate, and what’s one risk of using it?
Fire-alarm oversight — relying on external actors to raise concerns rather than direct monitoring.
Risk: regulatory capture or weak enforcement.
100
Constituency service, credit claiming boost, name recognition, resources of office (staff, mail, travel), and experience are all reasons for what political phenomenon surrounding elections?
Incumbency advantage
100
President Biden made an address in 2023 about Ukraine and Israel-- What presidential strategy is this, and what’s one possible downside?
Going public — mobilizing popular support to influence legislators. (Also "bully pulpit")
Downside: worsens relations with Congress, polarizes debate, and reduces flexibility for compromise.
100
Binding codes of conduct, mandatory financial disclosures, and changes to the recusal process are all what type of proposed changes to the Supreme Court?
Ethics reforms
200
Congress passes a short, goal-oriented environmental law and leaves most details to the EPA. Within a year, the agency’s rules diverge from what legislators intended. This illustrates which classic problem and what’s one oversight tool Congress could use to rein it in?
Principal–agent problem (information asymmetry or bureaucratic drift).
Congress can use reporting requirements, hearings, or funding control to oversee and correct drift.
200
A representative from a coastal district votes for disaster-relief funding (his constituents support it heavily) but opposes a popular foreign-aid bill on personal judgment. What model of representation does this behavior illustrate?
The politico model — combining delegate and trustee roles.
200
This presidential role allows the president to direct military forces, though using it without congressional authorization has long been controversial.
Commander in Chief
200
When the Court strikes down a law passed by Congress for violating the Constitution, what power is it exercising?
Judicial review, established in Marbury v. Madison (1803)
300
This structural features of bureaucracy that Weber proposes ensures order: every worker has a boss, and he argues this increases bureaucratic efficiency
Hierarchy
300
These tweets show members announcing local funding wins. What kind of congressional behavior is this and why do they do it?
Credit claiming — signaling effectiveness and responsiveness to boost reelection chances.
(Also acceptable: pork barrel politics)
300
The president authorizes military action abroad without new legislation but struggles to pass domestic bills through Congress. This illustrates which theory of presidential power?
Aaron Wildavsky’s Two Presidencies Thesis — presidents are more powerful and successful in foreign policy than domestic affairs, where Congress imposes greater constraints.
300
Based on this chart showing the ideological placement of Supreme Court justices, which justice represents the median voter, and why might that position give them extra influence over Court decisions?
Justice Roberts-- They often cast the deciding vote because outcomes tend to reflect the preferences of the justice in the ideological middle.