Review for Final Exam

POLS 220                                                                                                             

BERCH

FALL 2014

 

FINAL EXAM REVIEW

Hi, everyone!  The final exam for this class will be held in our regular room on Friday, December 12, from 3 pm to 5 pm.  It will be closed-book and comprehensive.  All you need to bring is a pen and photo ID.  The exam will cover all material from the semester including lectures, blog posts and linked readings, and the comments of your colleagues.  Material will be fairly evenly distributed from throughout the semester, except that material covered since exam #2 is more likely to appear on the exam.  The format will be similar to that of the quizzes.  Specifically, there will be four "short essay" sections, and two true-false sections (each with 5 questions).  You will answer 4 sections (you may answer 4 short essay sections OR 3 short essay sections plus one true-false section OR 2 short essay sections plus both true-false sections.  Each section is worth 5 points.  You get 5 points just for taking the exam, for a total of 25

Besides going over this review sheet and reviewing the material (and I urge to understand rather than memorize), you will have a number of opportunities to ask questions:
1.  You may email me at the address on the syllabus (berchnorto@msn.com).
2.  You may ask questions in the form of comments on this blog post.  I will reply to those questions on the blog, until 8:00 pm on December 11 (same for emailed questions).
3.  We will have an in-class review on December 3.
4.  I will have regular office hours on December 3 and December 8, as well as special office hours on December 10 from 10:30 to 12:00.

 
Material you should understand includes:
1.  How political scientists explain differences between states and why they use states as a laboratory.
2.  The three types of political culture.
3.  The origins of federalism, including the choices the constitution writers faced.
4.  The major events in the history of federalism, including court cases, amendments, etc.
5.  Fiscal federalism, including types of grants, the role of conditions of aid, the changes made by Ronald Reagan, and why some states get more federal aid than others.
6.  The general trends toward greater national control and marble cake federalism.
7.  The role of regional bodies.
8.  Dillon's Rule and Home Rule.
9.  How interest groups are affected by the free rider problem, and why some interest groups are more likely to form than are others.
10.  The reasons for the decline of political parties in the states.
11.  The difficulties facing third parties and why they are sometimes able to overcome them.
12.  Why some states have higher voter turnout than do others, and the ways in which states might try to raise turnout (including the article you read on incentives).
13.  How the legislature has become more professionalized.
14.  The role of committees in the legislature.
15.  The role of norms in the legislature.
16.  Cue voting.
17.  The types of representation voters expect from legislators.
18.  Gerrymandering, including when it is legal and when it is illegal.
19.  The increasing power and competence of governors.
20.  The line item veto, including its variations, arguments for and against it, and whether it works in the states.
21.  Why governors have a harder time getting reelected than do other officials.
22.  The reasons for the growth of bureaucracy.
23.  The general characteristics of bureaucracy.
24.  The problems and good points with bureaucracy.
25.  The ways in which elected officials control bureaucracy.
26.  The different methods for choosing judges, including their advantages and disadvantages.
27.  The different structures for local government, including their advantages and disadvantages.

 Ask questions, study hard, and good luck!.--NB

      

 

Lecture notes #4

POLS 220

N BERCH

FALL 2014

 

Bureaucracy

 

I.                     Comparison of WVU bureaucracy with that of Marlboro College

 

II.                  Size of bureaucracy (as % of workforce)

A.       1954—federal = 2.4%            total = 7.2%

B.      1984—federal  = 2.9%            total = 16.0%

C.      pretty stable since then

 

III.                Reason for rise of bureaucracy

A.       complexity of society—two ways

B.      complexity of legislation—leads to puff-ball

C.      fiscal federalism

 

IV.                 General characteristics of bureaucracy

A.       merit-based civil service

1.        didn’t used to be (Garfield)

2.       states were slower to eliminate patronage—moralistic states moved most quickly

B.       testing—rule of 3

C.      hierarchy

D.      specialization—Jimmy Carter and the mouse

E.       job security—has advantages and disadvantages

F.       adherence to rules

 

V.                   Problems with bureaucracy

A.       tough to abolish useless agencies

B.      overlap between agencies

C.      impersonality

D.      lack of control by elected officials (especially with part-time government at the local level)

E.       hard to fire people

 

VI.                Good points

A.       Fairness?

B.      regulation is often needed and good for the public

C.      any better ideas?

 

VII.              Checks on bureaucratic power

A.       Budget control

B.      oversight

C.      gubernatorial appointment—some

D.      sunset laws

1.        theory behind

2.       drawbacks—morale and recruiting

3.       WV has limited sunset laws

 

 

The Judiciary

 

 

I.                     How are judges chosen?

A.       Partisan elections

1.        high on responsibility

2.       low on independence

3.       costly—involve interest groups

4.       can exclude qualified judges

5.       democratic

6.       couldn’t campaign on judicial issues—now changed

7.       fairly high turnout

B.       Nonpartisan elections

1.        lower turnout

2.       still costly

3.       are they really non-partisan?

4.       popularity contests

C.       gubernatorial appointment

1.        often with confirmation

2.       appointed by elected official

3.       sometimes a payoff

4.       sometimes happens in other systems

D.       legislative elections—leads to ex-legislators

E.       merit systems

1.        often a variation on the Missouri Plan

2.       panel chooses candidates

3.       governor picks

4.       sometimes confirmation

5.       retention election

6.       merit may not work

7.       non-retention is a rarity

 

II.                   Key issues facing judicial system

A.       Plea-bargaining

B.      backlogs

C.      jail space

 

 

Local Government

 

I.                       General  impressions of local government

A.       accessible

B.      less competent (perhaps)

C.      honesty?

D.      spoils system

 

II.                  local government deals with complex, heated issues

A.       often NIMBY (sometimes PPIMBY)

B.      resources

C.      waste

D.      education

E.       race and class

 

III.                Four structures

A.       council-mayor (strong)

1.        responsible executive

2.       often has an administrator

3.       big cities of Northeast and Midwest

4.       too much power?

B.       council-mayor (weak)

1.        small towns (and others)

2.       power in hands of council

3.       Jerry Springer

C.       commission

1.        expertise

2.       fiefdoms

3.       largely discredited

D.       council-manager

1.        removes politics from administration

2.       usually in medium-sized cities

3.       manager can control council

4.       council can try to micromanage

 

IV.                 Morgantown

A.       council-manager

B.      seven members chosen by ward—sort of

1.        about 4000 people per ward

2.       elections are city-wide—hurts student representation

C.       mayor chosen by council

D.      non-partisan elections, but many party ties

E.       some conflicts with managers before Boroff.  After Boroff??  Looks like more conflict?

F.       college towns are different

 

 

 

Lecture Notes #3

POLS 220

N BERCH

FALL 2014

 

Political Participation

 

I.                     Introduction

A.       Voter participation in the US is quite low—50% or so for presidential elections, 35% for midterms, down to 10% for school elections.  This compares to about 80% in European countries

B.      Other forms of participation:  US is at the top of the list.  This includes a lot of local politics.  The importance of interest groups versus parties is a factor.

C.      Even within the US, there is great variation in voter turnout between states.

 

II.                   Why is there so much variation between the US states?

A.       political culture

B.      party competition

C.      ease of registration

1.        used to be used to exclude

2.       Motor Voter applies to all states, but makes little difference

D.       ease of voting:  absentee ballots, early voting, mail-in ballots, Saturday voting

E.       level of education

F.       election cycle

G.     West Coast effect

H.      direct democracy

 

III.                How could WV improve voter participation?

 

 

Legislatures

 

I.         Introduction:  why would anyone want to be in the legislature?

 

II.  How the legislature has changed:  greater professionalism.

A.      more lawyers—1/6 vs. ½ in Congress; WV is about average.

B.      more pay--$100 in NH, over $100,000 in NY and CA; $15,000 in WV

C.      longer sessions—WV extended to 60-60 in 1973; still below average but often goes beyond limits.

D.       more staff; WV uses lots of in-session staff

E.       better facilities

F.       still great variation from state to state

 

III.                How legislatures work

A.       Committees

1.        typical House and Senate members serve on three committees each

2.       WV House members serve on about 3; Senators about 6.

3.       WV has its experience concentrated on Finance and Judiciary Committees

B.       Norms

1.        specialization

2.       courtesy

3.       apprenticeship/seniority

4.       reciprocity

C.       cue voting

1.        why?

2.        party

3.       region

 

IV.                 What do we expect from our representatives?

A.       policy representation—hard to evaluate

B.      pork barrel representation—Daniel Flood

C.      casework representation—John Miller

D.      symbolic representation—George Hansen

 

V.                   Electing legislators

A.       Apportionment

1.        gerrymandering—protecting incumbents, party

2.       the odd effects of race and party

3.       multimember districts—WV uses more than almost every other state, but less than it once did

B.       Cost

1.        highest for CA Senate—up to $2 million

2.       WV is about average

C.       turnover

1.        related to resources, prestige, staffing

2.       WV among highest in nation

D.       Do we really want citizen legislators?

E.       What if WV raised the salary to $40,000 and made it a full-time job?

 

Governors

 

I.          Increase in formal powers, stature, professionalism

A.       Goodbye to Goodtime Charlie

B.      Especially strong in the Northeast—MD, MA, WV, NY

C.      increase in tenure potential, budget power

D.      Veto power (now in all states)—what about the line item veto?

1.        variation in power:  regular line item veto in 43 states, reduction item veto in 11, and Wisconsin extreme version—Vanna White veto

2.       argument for

3.       argument against

4.       findings—only small effect on pork barrel if reduction item veto is available

5.       implications for national level

a.       more effect—unbalanced budgets

b.      less effect—mandatory spending

c.       constitutional amendment required

 

II.  Increased prominence=increased risk

A.       25% lose reelection bids—higher than Congress

B.      easy to find 1 opponent

C.      reelection tied to state economy

D.      interaction with feds, other states, business is key

E.       hard to please an entire state