Rethinking American Public Policy: The Environment, Federalism, States, and Supranational Influences

The politics of American public policy recently have transformed in response to changing power relationships between levels of government in the United States. Certain policy choices now are made in different arenas–for example, state and local government institutions often make policy decisions that previously had been within the jurisdiction of America's national government. At the same time, new policy relationships between states also are altering previous political patterns. This article highlights and explains this phenomenon, and focuses particularly on the changing power relationships between levels of government in the United States–national, state, and local–and the resulting policies and politics. More specifically, it closely examines two 20th century innovations in government and public policymaking within the context of a discrete case study. One of these innovations is institutional–the rise of public authorities or public corporations as highly insulated, governmental entities. The other is procedural–the environmental impact statement process. Together, these innovations, in concert with broader international and global trends, have played a large role in the shifting power structure and politics underlying American public policymaking activities.     

A Preamble to Family Policy: Issues of the Past and Present

The subject of family appears appropriately related to social policy, since family functions interface with society so closely. Moreover, U.S. families have been changing rapidly enough in this decade to warrant new attention to policy development. Public and political interest in family policy has been growing. Yet, historical barriers to government targeting family issues for policy development abound. While some intellectual, organizational, and bureaucratic mobilization has occurred, producing broad family policy declarations, interest groups are in the process of positioning themselves differentially, and disagreement about the value of explicit family policy is on the increase. The author believes that family policy will develop slowly in the D.S., and that comprehensive and cohesive family policy can better be considered a goal rather than a readily implemented public activity.     

Recreational Fishing in Australia: Review and Policy Issues

Recreational fishing, otherwise known as angling, is both a significant resource use and a leisure activity in Australia. It has not received much scientific or policy attention, having been perceived as unimportant relative to commercial fishing and characterised by poor social, biological and economic data. Attention is increasing, however, as the ecological, economic and social significance of the activity is realised. The article briefly reviews recreational fishing and discusses the reasons why the activity has traditionally been ignored by policy-makers and researchers. Current policy issues are identified, and a generalised framework suggested for policy and research.     

Public Policy and Intergovernmental Relations: Measuring Perceived Change(s) in National Influence-The Effects of the Federalism Decade

Federal grants-in-aid have been a major instrument for the exercise of national influence on the states. This research investigates empirically the degree of perceived national influence (PNI) exerted through the grant process during the 1970s and 1980s. Respondents were state administrators heading agencies that received federal grants. Surveys at four points in time across the two decades produced a unidimensional measure of PNI. PNI levels were notably higher in the 1970s than in the 1980s. Two competing explanations were offered to account for the decline: (a) intergovernmental institutional policy changes promoted by the Ronald Reagan administration from 1981 through 1988, and (b) symbolic and rhetorical advocacy of an altered (reduced) national role in relation to the states. Both factors appear to have contributed to sharp decline in PNI between the mid-1970s and the mid-1980s.     

With a Little Help from Our Feds: Understanding State Immigration Enforcement Policy Adoption in American Federalism

Since 2001, state governments have adopted 287(g) cooperative immigration enforcement agreements with the federal government that authorize their law enforcement personnel to assist in detaining violators of civil federal immigration law. Employing a theoretical framework drawn from theories of policy adoption, intergovernmental relations, and immigration research, we test which state‐level political, sociodemographic, geographic, and economic determinants influence states to enter into such a cooperative agreement. In addition to finding that the partisanship of a state's governor, a state's effort on public welfare, and an increase in a state's percentage of Hispanics are related to the adoption of a cooperative immigration enforcement policy, we found evidence of “steam valve federalism” working not at the state level as Spiro (1997) first theorized but at the local level. When a state's localities adopt immigration enforcement agreements with the federal government, the state itself is far less likely to adopt their own. Understanding the reasons states would adopt this type of policy sheds light on current trends in state immigration policy and their effect on future state/federal intergovernmental relations.     

国外旅游政策研究:进展、争论与展望

旅游政策是政府实现旅游业发展目标的重要手段,但目前对旅游政策的研究还相对薄弱,研究成果的理论性、实践性、系统性和全面性亟待加强.本文在对国外旅游政策文献梳理的基础上,按照主题对文献内容进行分析总结,研究发现:(1)40年前旅游政策的研究就已开始,但进展十分缓慢,研究多以实证为主,理论性十分薄弱;(2)旅游政策的研究多从制定、实施、演化或评估的角度切入,且多数是从财政、税收或环境角度对专项旅游政策进行研究;(3)在旅游政策研究内容方面,旅游可持续发展是近几年旅游政策研究的热点,对旅游政策的经济目标性研究在弱化,而对旅游政策的社会目标性研究在加强.     

Policy Issues: License Renewal for Older Drivers-Analysis of the Iowa Experience in Reexamination of High-Risk Drivers

Loss of a driver license places an older person in the unhappy role of a transportation dependent. This dependence weighs heavily on that person' s family; if family members are nearby, they become either the sole or primary source of transportation for their transportation-dependent parent(s). If there are no family members nearby, as occurs often in today's highly mobile society, then a major concern of that family may be their parent(s)' lack of mobility, with the parent becoming effectively restricted to home due to lack of access to adequate transportation facilities.
Most of those who are involved in the issue of driver license renewal favor keeping older drivers on the road as long as possible, rather than arbitrarily denying them the privilege to drive. But there is legitimate concern about the presence of impaired drivers on the road and accompanying safety risks. Many states address this concern by devising license renewal procedures that will cause at least some potentially unsafe drivers to be flagged and referred for reexamination.
This study evaluates the bases for referral and reexamination currently used in the state of Iowa and assesses the validity of referrals. The results of our analysis indicate that the current referral process works quite well in identifying at-risk drivers, resulting in a high percentage of suspensions or imposing additional restrictions on an existing license. Results also support policies instituted by some states using age as a criterion for more frequent license renewal–which would allow examiners to test and observe driver behavior more frequently. The choice of age 75 as a threshold is supported by these results.     

Assessing the Empirical Impact of Environmental Federalism

Abstract Many theoretical models analyze the effects of decentralized environmental policymaking. The predictions range from a race to the top, a race to the bottom, or no effect. However, little empirical evidence exists to resolve this ambiguity. This paper fills the void by examining the impact of decentralized environmental policymaking in the U.S. under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. For abatement expenditures, Reagan's decentralization had no discernible impact before the mid‐1980s, but by the mid‐1980s the data are consistent with decentralization leading to a race to the top. No statistically significant effect is found on nitrogen oxide or sulfur dioxide emissions.     

Tourism and Foreign Investment in Australia: Trends,Prospects and Policy Implications

Processes of internationalisation and structural economic change have had profound impacts on the pattern of regional economic activity in Australia. The 1980s was a decade of rapid growth in foreign investment, reoriented to the property and services sector, including tourism. It was also a boom time for international tourism, which emerged as the nation's leading export industry. In addition to the national gateway city of Sydney, the rapidly growing coastal cities of Gold Coast and Cairns in Queensland emerged as major international tourism destinations underpinned by significant levels of foreign investment, particularly from Japan. The 1980s boom years for tourism and foreign investment are revised and raises policy implications raised for the longer-term development of tourism and the role of foreign investment.