1. Because policy choices often benefit some citizens and not others, legitimation of the policy process is important. Define legitimacy and discuss why the legitimation of substantive policy decisions is important to the policymaking process. What role does popular legitimation play in this process?

2. Discuss the different modes of legitimation in terms of characteristics of decisions and the range of actors involved. Describe which actors or institutions engage in which modes of legitimation.

3. Compare and contrast the role of Congress and the role of the courts in legitimating policies in the United States. In what specific form(s) of legitimation does each of these institutions engage?

4. Distinguish policymaking via legislative versus rulemaking processes.

5. Discuss how the rulemaking process helps to legitimate the acts of bureaucratic agencies.

6. Identify and describe the mechanisms that exist in which the public can directly legitimate policy decisions.