A FEMINIST CASE AGAINST NATIONAL FAMILY POLICY: VIEW TO THE FUTURE

This paper examines the goals of current family policy proposals from a feminist perspective. It reveals the fundamental pronatalist values that are inherent in such proposals. It reviews recent research that raises questions regarding the actual impact of Scandinavian family policies (which are often used as a model), in terms of actually achieving the stated objective of enhancing equality between the sexes. It briefly explores the family policy that already exists in the United States, having been judicially enacted by the Supreme Court, and finally, it shows how most current family based policy proposals serve to maintain inequality rather than to promote equality, both in society and the home.
The paper attempts to raise issues that policymakers need to consider in order to establish a long range policy goals that will truly benefit women and their families.     

THE STATES' ROLE IN POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: TRANSPORTATION POLICY

Over the past 25 years, the federal government has exerted a profound impact over transportation policy, with over one thousand policies and programs administered in 1979. States have been heavily involved in administering most of these programs. In the past, state and local governments have responded by raising the revenues necessary to match federal grants. Despite budget problems, the states' role is expected to continue.     

FAMILY POLICY IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE: THE CONNECTICUT AGENDA

In 1987 the Connecticut General Assembly made the first attempt in the nation's history to pass a comprehensive family policy. A total of 16 of 26 proposed bills were approved at a total cost of nearly $35 million. Included in the package was aparental and medical leave bill for state employees, a pilot program for displaced homemakers, and a bill to improve access to child day care. This study emphasizes the importance of strong party leadership, the need for comprehensive proposals that appeal to a variety of constituencies, and the importance of the right political and economic timing in enacting family-oriented legislation.     

SOVIET AGRICULTURAL POLICY IN THE 1980

During the early 1960s. the USSR entered a stage where the pent-up forces for a higher standard of living no longer could be ignored. These forces showed in an increased demand for high-quality food products, particularly meat, and raised Soviet demand for feed grains. The Soviets came to rely increasingly on the world grain market for these—particularly on the United States. Nonetheless, consumer discontent over food supplies and the reliance on imported grain was a strategic weakness which the United States sought to exploit in 1980. The USSR reacted by formulating a IIFood PrOgramI1 that is the basis of today's Soviet agricultural policy. Its implications for trade could be significant.     

FEDERAL POLICY IN LOCAL CONTEXT:PUZZLING THROUGH THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PARADIGMATIC POLICY REFORM

Although comprehensive reform programs (CRPs) have been influenced by theories of government failure, they pose some puzzles for these theorists. My purpose is to address puzzles that relate to observed characteristics of the timing, radicalism, implementation, rhetoric and democratic consequences of reforms. The long period of paradigm stability which typically precede them is explained in terms of the institutional and political risks associated with radical policy reform while the reforms themselves are explained in terms of factors that generated opportunities for new sources of policy leadership. This leadership was collectively supplied by a network that sought to break the hold of a fragmented structure of policy communities over the policy process.     

THE STATES' ROLE IN EDUCATION POLICY INNOVATION

Historically, local control of education has been a sacred part of the American political culture. Since the early 1960s. however, there has been an unprecedented growth of state influence over local education. States require minimum days of school attendance, courses of study, and standards for teacher licensing, as well as minimum tax levies and expenditures. During the 1970s, states intruded heavily into school finances, initiating reforms to equalize educational opportunities.     

INADEQUACIES IN THE PROCESSES OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract: Policy and policy development have received considerable attention in Australia over the last decade or more. This attention has resulted in many recommendations on policy in the series of major public service inquiries of the 1970s, in a number of books and journal articles on varied aspects of public policy, and in the considerable strengthening of the policy development capacities of many government agencies. This attention has to date been inadequate, because it has in almost all cases concentrated on the questions of where within the bureaucratic structure policy development should occur and what procedural mechanisms are needed to allow ministers or cabinet to choose between alternative policies and to facilitate the coordination of policies. These questions are of course important, but questions of how a well-considered policy option that can be considered by a cabinet or a minister is actually developed appear to have been almost totally ignored. In the public service inquiries, in the published literature, and in public accounts of the work of policy units, there appears to be virtually no analysis of the process of policy development. There is little or no discussion of how the standard formal models of policy development match or fail to match the techniques used in Australia, and although there have been many individual case studies of policy issues, there are no comparative case studies from which general observations might be drawn. Lastly, there are very few positive suggestions as to how policy development in Australia could be improved. Overcoming these inadequacies provides a major challenge to Australian policy workers.     

THE STATES' ROLE IN LAND USE POLICY

Historically, land use had been an exclusively local function. By the early 1960s, a "quiet revolution" broke the local government monopoly over zoning and land use, with a larger state role. Those states which passed land use legislation soon were faced with substantial political opposition, especially from rural dwellers and developers. When Congress considered national land use legislation in the early 1970s. these same interests united in effective opposition.     

UTILIZATION IN THE POLICY CYCLE: DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH*

The study of policy utilization has been unnecessarily confined to one policy stage and to one group of policymakers-high ranking civil servants. This article suggests to broaden research concerns by including the various stages of the policy cycle and the various policymakers. Utilization plays different functions in different stages and the incentives of policymakers in each stage are guided by self-interest and political-bureaucratic efficacy.