Social Sciences and History / Unit 8 SSH 0736 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Placing an Agency in Its Type
The idea
The exam names an organization and asks what kind of bureaucracy it is, and the anchor's four types sort it. A cabinet department is one of the fifteen executive departments headed by a senior appointee who sits in the cabinet, answering to the president. An independent regulatory agency regulates a sector of the economy and sits outside the departments, insulated from presidential control. An independent executive agency performs a function outside any department but under presidential direction. A government corporation fulfills an important public interest, charges for what it provides, and is overseen by government far more than a private business would be. Ask two questions: does it sit inside a department, and does it regulate, execute, or sell.
In practice
Given "the department responsible for foreign affairs, headed by a secretary", cabinet department. Given "a commission that licenses broadcasters and sets rules for them", independent regulatory agency. Given "an agency running the space program outside any department", independent executive agency. Given "a mail service that charges postage and answers to public oversight", government corporation.
Where people slip
The trap is independence: both independent types sit outside departments, and the regulatory one is distinguished by its rule-setting over a sector and its insulation. The second trap is the corporation: it looks like a business and is still government, overseen because it serves a public interest.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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