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CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Regulation and the Courts

Review

1. "Regulation is a core element of government's work. It frames the way that government officials exercise their discretion. It defines the way that private companies interact with the public, from the safety of food we eat to the security of bank deposits. Decisions might be the central governmental act, and budgets provide what administrators need to carry out those decisions, but regulations are the central nervous system of the government".

Discuss the above quote. How are regulations "the central nervous system of the government"? As such, are they more important than decisions or budgets? Why or why not?


2. The study of public administration forces the study of efficiency versus accountability versus coordination. How do those three elements—efficiency, accountability, and coordination—function in the regulation of administration? How does the following quote support or contradict your view: "If public administration revolves around the balance of power and accountability, regulation defines how public administrators balance individual freedom and the government control"?


3. In examining the different branches of regulators, which branch—the executive or the judicial—seems to have the most authority or legitimacy to be doing so and why?


4. The text describes how the Fifth and the Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution "prohibit the national government and the states (including their local governments) from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law" and go on to frame what government regulation can do and how, procedurally, government must do it. Treating corporations as "persons," courts apply these provisions by requiring fair procedures and substantively by using their own judgment of whether the deprivation of property or of a fair return on it seems "reasonable" in the eyes of the courts. What do you think about this system? How democratic does it seem to you? Does it fit with the notions of accountability discussed so far? Can you think of a better method?


5. Courts and agencies make "strange partners," the text says, because they are organizations with different histories and have staffs comprising very different types of people. Further, courts are "passive" whereas agencies are "active". Describe and discuss these differences and the strategies that have developed to accommodate these differences, namely, the courts pushing agencies to involve more citizens and groups in the process of rulemaking and also "making law". What do you think of how these two groups have accommodated to each other's differences? Can you think of better ways?