Between the civil war and the 1960s, the was a democratic stronghold. question 24 options:

The answer is: The South.
During the period of civil war, the democratic party was the prominent supporter of the slavery while republican party was the prominent supporter of the abolition. At the war, the republican held their stronghold in northern states while the democrats in the southern states

An informal structure in a bureaucracy would be something like so-called "office politics". where there's a formal structure set up for the organization, but then an informal subculture as well that has a way of organizing the bureaucracy further. this can be positive because it sets up an added degree of organization, albeit informal, within the bureaucracy.