Intergovernmental Relations in the Reagan Era

This article reviews federal Reagan-era policies that affected grant-in-aid programs to state and local governments. We find the most important developments in federal aid policies of the Reagan years are twofold—the relative decline in the national government's involvement in domestic affairs and the concomitant rise in the role of the states. The administration achieved these effects by devolving federal authority to states and by reducing grant spending. Reagan's biggest cuts in federal aid outlays came in 1981; in subsequent years, total grant outlays began to rebound, increasing in nominal dollars to levels above those in the Carter years, though still below the high-water mark reached in 1978 in real terms. Medicaid, the largest federal aid program, accounts for most of the overall growth, masking cuts in operating and capital grant programs. Reagan's devolutionary and retrenchment policies are one of several factors we see as contributing to the rising role of states in domestic affairs, a trend we think is likely to continue in the next administration.     

Intergovernmental Relations in the 1980s

Intergovernmental relations in West German cooperative federalismhave often been criticized as inefficient and inflexible. Theabolition of joint policymaking and the promotion of decentralizationhave been recommended in order to reduce interdependencies betweengovernments and to avoid overloading central policymaking. Suchproposals have usually been put forward without consideringthe governmental complexity that impedes large-scale reforms.However, a detailed analysis of federalism, focusing on processesrather than structures and on different policies rather thanaggregations, reveals that intergovernmental relations in the1980s are not the same as those in the 1960s or early 1970s.The inherent dynamics of intergovernmental relations have producedmany changes. These changes have contributed to the overallstability of West German federalism because they have reflectedflexible adaptations of relations among federal, Land, and localgovernments to new socioeconomic, sociocultural, and ecologicalchallenges. Hence, events of the 1980s provide an occasion forreassessing cooperative federalism.     

Intergovernmental Relations in Canada: The Emergence of Collaborative Federalism

"Executive federalism" or "federal-provincial diplomacy" haslong been considered the defining characteristic of Canadianfederalism, which combines federalism and Westminster-stylecabinet government. However, these processes have come underincreasing stress in recent years from a number of forces thathave affected the nature and conduct of federalism and intergovernmentalrelations in Canada. Executive federalism has not been displaced,but has been increasingly informed by a set of practices thatwe call "collaborative federalism," characterized more by theprinciple of co-determination of broad national policies ratherthan by the more traditional pattern of federal-leadership.     

American Federalism and Intergovernmental Innovation in State-Tribal Relations

Relations between American Indian tribes and state governmentsare poorly understood; they have been inaccurately portrayedas exclusively or increasingly conflictual. This study balancessuch perceptions and identifies constructive patterns of state-tribalrelations that developed between 1970 and 2003. President RichardM. Nixon's 1970 policy of Indian self-determination affirmedIndian tribes' survival; yet it failed, in the context of tribes'extraconstitutional status, to clarify their relationship tostate governments. Since then, entrepreneurial tribal leadershave asserted sovereign governmental status while advocatingpractical and substantive cooperation with state governmentsin place of adversarial and legalistic relations. The partialsuccess of these efforts has produced new intergovernmentalmechanisms and the development of state-tribal relations asan ongoing and increasingly normalized category of intergovernmentalrelations, even amidst conflict over tribal gaming and a shiftingpolitical and legal environment.     

Intergovernmental Relations and Clean-Air Policy in Southern California

In 1989, California adopted a bold and comprehensive Air QualityManagement Plan (AQMP) to bring southern California into compliancewith federal air-quality standards by 2007. California's effortto control air pollution, as outlined in the AQMP, significantlyinfluenced the formulation of the 1990 federal Clean Air Act.This article analyzes the nature of this influence as well asthe way the new federal legislation bolsters specific provisionsof the AQMP. Also examined is whether the AQMP and the CleanAir Act are likely to bring southern California into compliancewith federal air-quality standards.     

The Substitution Approach To Intergovernmental Relations: The Case Of OSHA

Federal legislation of the last two decades has substantiallyreduced state autonomy in dealing with many regulatory issues.Participation in the implementation of these federal programsmay, however, enable states to exert some leverage over policyoutcomes. Variations in state leverage no doubt exist from oneintergovernmental grant program to the next. Substitution authoritymay be one variable accounting for this variation. Under a substitutionapproach, a federal agency cannot only sever the flow of fundsto a grantee; it can also step in and operate a program if statesfail to meet expectations or choose not to participate. Thisarticle generates more basic propositions about the substitutionapproach by analyzing its implementation under the OccupationalSafety and Health Act of 1970. The article examines the roleplayed by substitution authority in motivating the OccupationalSafety and Health Administration (OSHA) to adopt an aggressiveposture toward the states. The article then assesses whetherOSHA's aggressiveness prompted state grantees to exert considerableeffort on behalf of program goals. Finally, the implicationsof current reform proposals, which call for a sorting out offunctions between the states and the federal government, receiveattention.     

Managing Intergovernmental Relations in Australia: The Case of Agricultural Policy Cooperation

In June 2004, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) announced changes to the guidelines and protocols of some 40 ministerial councils and intergovernmental fora which comprise the web of intergovernmental consultative arrangements. This article examines the impact of the guidelines on the operation of the oldest of the sectoral ministerial councils, those relating to agriculture. The COAG guidelines aim to increase the strategic focus of the councils. However, in the case of agricultural policy there appears to have been a centralising of policy control, both within state governments and towards the Commonwealth, which undermines that objective and leaves the ministerial councils focusing on the more technical issues which they are more effective at addressing.     

Clinton's Education Policy and Intergovernmental Relations in the 1990s

This article describes key Clinton administration initiativesin education and the framework that underlies them. It thenaddresses four aspects of intergovernmental relationships highlightedby current federal policy: an emphasis on policy coherence withinand across governments; the emerging importance of "national,"as opposed to federal, policy leadership; the acceptance ofthe key role of states in education policy; and, perhaps, morestability in the federal system related to the convergence ofpolicy at all levels around results or outcomes.     

Decay and Reconstruction In the Study of American Intergovernmental Relations

Current criticism of the performance of American governmentsis often organized around an emergent theory of intergovernmentaldecay, which contains propositions about government size, accountability,control, capacity and achievement among its central assertions.Recent evidence of American governmental performance is usedto appraise the decay theory, leading to the conclusion thatthe evidence offers little support for its major assertions.An alternative approach is then sketched out, based on the structuralconcept of "organizational interest" and the inherent dynamismof a system in which every governmental unit is always partof the relevant political environment of at least one otherunit. These considerations lead to a somewhat different assessmentof the "problems" facing American governments as well as analternative way of conceptualizing their activities.     

府际关系视角下的对口支援系列政策

对口支援是具有中国特色的帮扶政策,对口支援与对口帮扶、对口协作、对口合作组成了对口支援的政策系列。系列对口支援政策在实施过程中建立了支援地区与受援地区之间人为的联系,这实际上扩展了府际关系的范畴。从府际关系的视角来看,系列对口支援政策建立了新型的央地关系,扩展了横向间的政治、经济联系,丰富了府际关系的内涵和形式。     

服务型政府建设与政府间纵向关系调整

服务型政府建设对政府间纵向关系这一中国政府体制重要方面的调整和改革提出了迫切要求。中国的政府间的纵向关系在结构性要素上具有权力较为集中的特点,在体制性要素上也有一系列独特性。这样的政府间纵向关系有其优势,也有其不足。建设服务型政府对政府间纵向关系调整提出的基本要求是:使各级政府能够有效回应和满足公民日益增长的公共服务需求,实现基本公共服务均等化,有效推进行政管理改革和政府职能转变;进一步保持与提升政府间纵向关系的优势并克服其不足。     

Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations in 1996: The End of an Era

On 30 September 1996 the U.S. Advisory Commission on IntergovernmentalRelations (ACIR) closed its doors, ending thirty-seven yearsof advocacy for federalism and intergovernmental relations.A majority of members in the Congress felt that A CIR had becomeirrelevant to the issues facing them and agreed that littlewould be lost by terminating the commission. The Clinton administration,although supportive until near the end, withdrew its'supportout of displeasure with the commission's handling of the unfundedfederal mandates issue. The national associations representingstate and local governments were ambivalent. ACIR was no longerlooked to for solutions to the nation's intergovernmental relationsproblems. With the exit of ACIR, the federal government's lastresource for addressing broad intergovernmental issues—beyondthe confines of individual programs—is gone.     

Patterns of Intergovernmental Relations in Environmental Cleanup at Federal Facilities

The authority of both federal and state environmental regulatorsis involved in decisions about regulating the cleanup of contaminatedsites at federal facilities. This study examines tripartiterelationships among EPA regional offices, state environmentalregulatory agencies, and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) andU.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities during the processof cleaning up Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,and Liability Act (CERCLA) sites at two federal facilities.The analysis found regular patterns of conflict and cooperationin CERCLA cleanup programs at Weldon Spring, Missouri, and ReeseAir Force Base, Texas. DOD and DOE, as lead agencies, generallyfrustrated active participation by state environmental regulatoryagencies in the federal cleanup process. States used other environmentalregulations to obtain authority over federal CERCLA sites withvarying levels of success. States' success in gaining authorityover federal CERCLA sites depended on EPA regional offices'support of states' efforts.     

Institutionalized Evaluation and Intergovernmental Relations: The Case of Coastal Zone Management

The enactment of national environmental management programswas prompted, in large part, by the perceived failure of stateand local government officials to deal adequately with pollutioncontrol and resource management problems. Paradoxically, theimplementation of several important environmental managementprograms relies heavily on these same state and local officials.Congress has sought to resolve this paradox by requiring federalevaluation of state and local environmental planning and managementactivities. Many of these evaluations are little more than routinefiscal audits. However one agency, the Office of Coastal ZoneManagement, has sought to develop a systematic evaluation processfocusing on all aspects of state coastal zone programs. Theseevaluative efforts have led to intergovernmental tensions, mostnotably with regard to the purposes and methods of evaluation,the appropriate roles of federal and state officials, and theresources available for evaluation. In spite of these tensions,there is broad agreement about the value of the evaluation processand its potential applicability in other contexts.     

Intergovernmental Relations: Ensuring Informed Cooperation in Strategic Policy Development

COAG was formed out of a concern by commonwealth, state and territory governments to improve intergovernmental cooperation. In particular, COAG allowed leaders and central agencies to discuss and coordinate policy frameworks from a whole-of-government perspective. It also has increased the prospects of further reform to Australia's political system in the areas of financial arrangements, international treaties and constitutional reform.     

Intergovernmental Relations and the Advocacy Coalition Framework: The Operation of Federalism in Denver Water Politics

The relationship between intergovernmental relations and theformulation and implementation of public policies is not wellunderstood by scholars. Borrowing from the advocacy coalitionframework, this study contends that public policies reflectthe strategic choices of federal, state, and local actors operatingwithin policy subsystems. The success of various governmentalpolicy strategies is dependent on the autonomy of each actorand the level of policy fragmentation within the subsystem.These variables are defined, operationalized, and examined withinthe context of intergovernmental relations in Denver water politics.     

Competing Approaches to the Study of American Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations

The development of theory in the study of American federalismand intergovernmental relations has long been marked by divergentapproaches. This article reviews the literature produced byfive "schools" within the field: (1) dual federalism, (2) cooperativefederalism, (3) pragmatic federalism, (4) noncentralized federalism,and (5) nation-centered federalism. As different as these approachesare, scholarly work in this field has made only sparing useof two other potentially useful approaches: distributive justiceand public choice theory. This article suggests how these alternateapproaches might contribute to reinvigorating a field that appearsto be otherwise at an intellectual impasse.     

Toward Federal Democracy in Spain: An Examination of Intergovernmental Relations

Intergovernmental relations is playing a key role in the emergenceof federal arrangements in post-Franco Spain. The transitionto democracy included the building of a state made up of autonomouscommunities, which is transforming the regime into one withmany centers of power, in both the historic regions and therest of the country. Intergovernmental institutional, political,and fiscal patterns demonstrate the evolving nature of self-ruleand shared rule, moving Spain closer into the orbit of otherfederal systems.