Answer to Question 1
An ideal response will:
1, Identify that both individuals and interest groups operate to influence legislation and decision-making in the federal bureaucracy.
2, Explain that previously the informal relationships that influenced policy decisions were identified as an iron triangle, which consisted of interest groups concerned with a policy issue, key committee members in Congress and their staff, and the leaders and experts on that issue within a department or agency.
3, Describe how the iron triangle operated: interest groups provided campaign contributions to legislators on relevant committees, who shaped legislation that the interest groups favored with the help of the bureaucratic experts who provided needed information and helped plan and facilitate implementation.
4, Note that today the informal relationships that influence policy decisions are described as issue networks or policy communities, which consist of large numbers of individuals and interest groups from government, business, and education with expertise and interest in particular policy areas.
5, Describe how issue networks operate by staying in touch with each other about policy concerns as they rise and fall on the nation's policy agenda and, when bills are proposed, use their influence to push to amend the wording, to lobby for their passage, or to block their progress.
6, Identify the advantage of these informal networks as policy enhancement through the exchange and coordination of information by experts, and the disadvantage as the way such relationships between government and others outside it can give rise to improper or corrupt behavior, or the appearance of such.
Answer to Question 2
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