| Abstract: | Much of the scholarship on initiatives emphasizes the link between voting behavior and initiative election outcomes or the strategies employed during the policy enactment phase. Little research has considered implementation or whether initiatives ultimately achieve their intended goals. Although the initiative process provides a direct link between the people and policy, it cannot be assumed that upon voter approval, an initiative will simply be implemented in a meaningful and uniform manner within the scope of the initiative's original intent. Using a case study of California's Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA/Proposition 36) I ask how local politics and other contextual factors influence the implementation of a statewide voter initiative. Using aggregate data drawn from each of California's 58 counties, results indicate that politics at the county-level, measured via counties' general ideological dispositions and more specific policy preferences toward drug abuse and drug offenders affect how they implement the initiative. Contrary to popular conceptions, results here confirm that initiatives are not uniformly implemented, but in fact, will be manifested in quite different ways due to local contextual differences. |
