Policy Coherence and Component-Driven Policymaking: Arctic Policy in Canada and the United States

This research extends theorizing about the implications of political environments to the content of policy areas. We consider the case of Arctic policy in Canada and the United States as an example of what we label as component-driven policymaking. We show how the lack of a clear constituency and the lack of a stable policy subsystem for the Arctic create a policy environment for which the politics of particular issues dominate Arctic policymaking. The result is a policy space labeled Arctic policy that lacks policy coherence. We suggest that similar features of component-based policymaking help explain limited policy coherence for a variety of policy areas such as policies for children, families, rural areas, urban areas, and women in the United States.     

Political Attention and Public Spending in the United States

According to Jones and Baumgartner's disproportionate information processing model, it is crucial to study fluctuations in congressional attention over time and across policy issues to understand congressional policy decisions including decisions on the federal budget. Drawing on classical ideas about reelection-oriented behavior, on the one hand, and the blocking power of federal agencies, on the other, this paper extends and specifies the attention-spending predictions of the disproportionate information processing model. Specifically, spending effects of congressional attention shifts are argued to be crucially dependent on both the spending preferences expressed by the U.S. public and on pressure from spending advocates. An empirical evaluation of the association between changes in congressional attention measures and federal budget appropriations across 12 spending domains and 33 years (1970–2003) supports this conditional hypothesis derived from the extended disproportionate information processing model.     

Disaster Management in the United States: Examining Key Political and Policy Challenges

The failures associated with the Hurricane Katrina response call attention to the challenges of, and the need to better understand disaster management practices in the United States. This article reviews several recent contributions to the field of disaster research and considers four key issues: the concept of disaster vulnerability, how individuals respond to hazard risks, challenges associated with effective hazard mitigation, and the idea of policy learning in the area of disasters. Beyond a review of these aspects of disaster management, future directions in disaster research is discussed.     

United States Policy Toward the Multilateral Development Banks

During its first several decades, the World Bank operated with few constraints on its lending authority. Lending policies reflected primarily the economic and political objectives of Bank management and staff. With the establishment of the International Development Association (IDA) soft loan window 1960 this autonomy began to erode. The funds needed to support the IDA soft loans had to be replenished. This opened the door to greater political pressure on Bank policy by the administration and Congress. Since the mid-1980s environmental interest groups increasingly have been effective in bringing pressure to bear on World Bank and other MDB policy.     

Participation and Environmental Policy in Canada and the United States: Trends Over Time

This article explores trends in participation and environmental policy in Canada and the United States over three time periods: from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s; from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s; and, finally, over the past few years. The article examines possible interactions among the two variables within each country over these periods and searches out overall tendencies toward convergence or divergence. The article argues that there was divergence between the two countries in the first period, with the U.S. providing more participatory opportunities earlier than Canada and establishing a more developed regulatory framework. An overview of progress over the second period, showing some convergence among the two countries, is then provided. Canada seemed to be catching up to its southern counterpart in terms of both participatory opportunities—although they took a distinctively Canadian form—and policy decisions. More recently, however, the trend has been toward divergence. The article explains that, over the past few years, participatory opportunities in Canada have been diminished and the environmental regulatory framework has been scaled back. Although there have been some changes in the U.S. case, the scale of these changes has not been as extensive. The final section of the article then attempts to relate these broader trends in participation and policy decisions to the political context in each country. It is argued that institutional frameworks in the two countries have played a key role in the identified trends. In particular, Canada's institutional structure—specifically the concentration of power in the executive and its federal structure—has hastened these recent developments, while the U.S. institutional framework—with its multiple power centers—has acted as a brake on those who advocate significant change to the existing environmental policy regime.     

Testing Alternative Theories of Agenda Setting: Forest Policy Change in British Columbia, Canada

In an effort to add to our understanding of why government chooses to take actions in certain situations and not others, this article applies competing theories of agenda building to a specific environmental issue, forest policymaking in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Clearly, how well BC and the rest of Canadian provinces manage their forests and other natural resources will contribute to the ability of Canada as a whole to become a sustainable society. In the 1990s the BC government enacted the Forest Practices Code, a comprehensive approach to managing the province's forests. This study relies on several different theoretical approaches to explain how such an ambitious program was developed and implemented. How difficult and complex environmental issues manage to reach the political agenda is crucial to our understanding of policy change and is addressed in this study.     

论清教思想和英国理性主义对美国早期人权政策的影响

美国人权理论和渊源虽然可以上溯到古希腊、罗马,但其传统则直接承继英国的清教思想和理性主义①。清教思想和英国理性主义的自由平等原则给美国人权政策提供了理论基础,但这些原则中包含的消极因素也对美国的人权理论产生了不良影响,深刻地影响着美国人权政策的发展。一、清教的人权思想美国人权理论有一种基本的倾向：即高举自由、平等的旗帜。这种倾向主要来自清教的人权思想和英国理性主义。清教的人权思想发端于宗教自由,表达为自然权利说、自然神论和皈依契约说②。在灿烂的清教思想家群星中,闪烁着最耀眼光辉的人物是约翰·弥尔…     

Public Opinion and Policymaking in the States: The Case of Post-Roe Abortion Policy

Whether public opinion should be expected to play a role in the shaping of abortion legislation in the states is a debatable question. Representation is a difficult task, especially if legislators receive mixed cues from the public, activists, and the political parties. In this study, we find that grass-roots activism and public opinion tend to match, and both are reflected in state abortion policy. In addition, more Pro-Life policies are found in states with a tradition of conservative policies in other areas, Republican majorities in the state legislature, more Catholic residents, and fewer women legislators. These patterns hold true for a composite index of abortion policies and for the specific policy area of government funding of abortions. Slightly different patterns occur for parental consent laws, though these statutes also tend to reflect general preferences on abortion and interest group activity in a state.     

The Arab Uprisings and the United States: The Dichotomy Between Balancing Stability and Upholding Commitment to Democracy

The Arab Spring, a revolutionary movement for democracy that swept across the Arab Middle East in 2010, has contributed to the downfall of several oppressive authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. The movement represented several uprisings that placed the United States in a precarious position. While the uprisings have shaken U.S. policy to the core, they also presented a historic opportunity for American policymakers to craft a new and comprehensive policy that is compatible with the much‐coveted principles of democracy, freedom, and justice in a region that has historically been unable to grasp such principles. This article argues that the American administration under President Barak Obama squandered this opportunity by pursuing an incoherent and inconsistent policy. This policy revealed Obama's support of the uprisings calls for political reforms that aligned with American liberal values. However, the policy also reflected a commitment to ensure security and stability by maintaining autocratic regimes the protesters hoped to overthrow. This article demonstrates that the policy lacked consistency and clarity as it shifted from one uprising to another.     

1971年印巴危机期间美国的难民政策与美印在难民问题上的角力

1971年印巴危机是冷战时代一次具有重大国际影响的地区危机。危机期间,因受东巴内战与印巴冲突的双重影响,大量东巴居民逃往印度,沦为难民。东巴难民持续涌入印度不仅是东巴危机转变为印巴危机的主要诱因,同时也是导致南亚持续紧张、敌对氛围难以消解的重要根源。为妥善解决难民问题,美国积极谋划,投入大量人力、物力、财力,意图妥善解决难民问题,化解危机。但是美国采取的积极措施并未减缓危机冲突的不断升级。在处理难民问题的过程中,美巴政策协调趋于一致,而印度与美巴在难民问题上的政策倾向却渐行渐远。归根究底,是否应该在难民问题上附加最终促成东巴独立的政治条件是美巴与印度的根本分歧所在。而这一根本分歧的悬而未决最终成为引爆第三次印巴战争的导火索。     

Art and design as competitive advantage: A creative enterprise cluster in the Western United States

The creative enterprise cluster consists of companies that take their principal competitive advantage from a distinctive appearance, form, content, or sound that they embed or embody in their products or services. They include large numbers of micro-enterprises, freelancers, and design manufacturers, which loosely comprise a 'creative enterprise cluster'. The US state of Montana has such a cluster. It includes artisan firms, native American businesses, freelancers, and design manufacturers, many of which are included in government business databases. Montana's biodiversity, low population density, independent lifestyle, and cultural heritage have drawn large numbers of creative enterprises and entrepreneurs, which have led to support network of associations, cooperatives, galleries, suppliers, and educators. A study of the cluster for the Montana Governor's office(1) led to a number of recommendations that included recognizing recognition as economic development, increasing emphasis on arts and design in education, forming local and international marketing networks, establishing specialized business service centres, and matching artists with manufacturers. As a result, the state selected this cluster for further targeted support and development.     

1944年《美国对外石油政策》报告探析

1944年4月11日美国国务院公布了《美国对外石油政策》报告。该报告将石油利益确定为美国国家安全利益的核心,其主要内容是:在中东地区推行"门户开放"政策,将大西洋宪章的"机会均等"原则运用于战后美国对外石油资源的争夺中;提出了美国对外石油供应的"半球"石油政策,即"东半球"的石油主要由中东地区供应,"西半球"的石油由美洲地区供应。美国对外石油政策的目标是攫取和控制中东地区的石油资源,保护美国国内的石油资源储备。考察《美国对外石油政策》报告的主要内容及其形成的过程,揭示美国战后对外石油政策的本质,有益于全面认识美国构建战后石油安全战略的全貌。