Strategic Regulatory Planning in the Management of Hazardous Materials

The failure to coordinate policy formulation with policy implementation in hazardous waste regulation has hindered the identification of potential obstacles to achieving compliance. In an effort to integrate policy formulation with implementation, this paper develops a strategic regulatory planning model and applies it to a specific case, the underground storage tank provision of the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments. The final plan, submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, emphasises 'induced compliance'. The study shows that the model provides policymakers with a practical tool for combining policy formulation with implementation and identifying possible impediments to achieving compliance

Party identification and party closeness in comparative perspective

The present analysis uses data from 1974 and 1981 U. S. cross sections, which incorporate a panel, to compare the standard NES measure of party identification (ID) with a measure of partisanship derived from a party closeness question widely employed in cross-national research. Important features of the two scales are examined by transforming the closeness measure into a scale of very close, fairly close, not very close, and no preference corresponding to the seven-point ID scale. The scales are highly correlated and are similar in their reliability. More than 75% of the “independents” in the ID scale choose a party in the closeness version, and over half of these select the “fairly close” category. Respondents do not volunteer that they are independents when that alternative is not stated in the question.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45482/1/11109_2004_Article_BF00990552.pd

Stakeholder Engagement in Climate Change Policymaking in American Cities

In all likelihood, climate change will be the most challenging environmental problem that societywill face in the new century. Despite growing scientific evidence that climate change is takingplace, skepticism still exists about whether it is actually occurring and, if it is, whether increasedgreenhouse gas emissions will have a significant adverse impact on the ecosystem. Unlessdivergent actor groups are able to establish a dialogue on these issues, meaningful discussionsabout the causes and effects of climate change will not take place, government action will not beforthcoming, and additional harm to the ecosystem will occur. This, in turn, will place animpediment in front of public and private efforts to promote sustainability, making it even thatmuch more difficult to reverse course and adopt needed changes to energy production andconsumption in the future. This paper contributes to the emerging scholarly discussion aroundthe dimensions of climate change communication by conducting a stakeholder-focused analysisconcerning climate change at the local level. The paper draws upon a theoretical frameworkdeveloped by Sabatier et al. (2005) to analyze stakeholder involvement in collaborativewatershed management, and applies the framework to climate change policymaking in American cities. A major goal of the study is to assess the value of this framework for analyzing the nature and extent of interactions between the major players involved in climate change mitigation andadaptation at the local level. Developing an effective stakeholder framework can help us to understand the multifaceted stakeholder dynamics around climate change communication at the municipal level and can be a critical contribution to theory and, subsequently, to policymaking by helping decision makers become aware and knowledgeable about their constraints and opportunities in addressing climate change within the urban context. Overall, research on climate change policymaking by cities is underdeveloped, and this paper adds to this literature

Strategic Adaptive Governance and Climate Change: Policymaking during Extreme Political Upheaval

Adaptive governance seeks to address complicated and difficult policy problems. Due to the extreme political upheaval wrought by the Trump administration’s dismantling of federal climate change programs, many state and local governments are considering new policy approaches. Yet by ignoring crucial aspects of politics and intergovernmental relations, the adaptive governance literature provides little guidance for such substantial issues. This paper introduces the concept of strategic adaptive governance, a framework for permitting policymakers to achieve the highest rate of compliance possible under existing conditions and constraints involving state and local policy, despite political upheaval. The strategic adaptive governance model embraces politics, accounts for the role of central authorities, and emphasizes the motivations, resources, and interdependencies of affected parties. We apply the model in an analysis of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32), examining the extent to which it aligns with strategic adaptive governance, and evaluating the potential for the state to utilize the model. We find that AB 32 aligns moderately with strategic adaptive governance, and discuss how the model could help protect and enhance policy gains. More broadly, strategic adaptive governance provides a generic and universal framework for policymakers interested in tactical formulation of any regulatory policy

Sustainability Policy Research: A Review and Synthesis

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical approaches drawn from influential journal articles and books on sustainability policy published over the last 10 years (2007 through 2017). Due to the widespread application of sustainability as a concept and space limitations, the paper more narrowly focuses on sustainability research in three critical policy areas: climate change, urban development, and agroecology and food systems. Drawing from information provided primarily by citation indexes, the study identifies and analyzes the research literature related to sustainability in these three fields. Future theoretical and empirical research approaches that can better integrate and connect the current diffuse and incongruent literature on sustainability are discussed in the paper. The findings of the literature review generate a number of possible future research directions that are discussed in the study

Strategic Adaptive Governance and Climate Change: Policymaking during Extreme Political Upheaval

Adaptive governance seeks to address complicated and difficult policy problems. Due to the extreme political upheaval wrought by the Trump administration’s dismantling of federal climate change programs, many state and local governments are considering new policy approaches. Yet by ignoring crucial aspects of politics and intergovernmental relations, the adaptive governance literature provides little guidance for such substantial issues. This paper introduces the concept of strategic adaptive governance, a framework for permitting policymakers to achieve the highest rate of compliance possible under existing conditions and constraints involving state and local policy, despite political upheaval. The strategic adaptive governance model embraces politics, accounts for the role of central authorities, and emphasizes the motivations, resources, and interdependencies of affected parties. We apply the model in an analysis of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32), examining the extent to which it aligns with strategic adaptive governance, and evaluating the potential for the state to utilize the model. We find that AB 32 aligns moderately with strategic adaptive governance, and discuss how the model could help protect and enhance policy gains. More broadly, strategic adaptive governance provides a generic and universal framework for policymakers interested in tactical formulation of any regulatory policy