RIPPLES AND TRICKLES: IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND POLICY ANALYSIS IN ASIA

Advocacy of impact assessment has exceeded documentation of the un- even influence of impact assessment information on policy analysis. Start- ing with a simple distinction between pluralist and hierarchical policy systems, an analysis is presented of relations between impact assessment and policy processes in Asia, with special emphasis on the Philippines. Conclusions are drawn about the political significance of impact assessment information in different policy contexts.     

IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR FEDERAL WILDLIFE POLICY

This article is one of the first efforts to describe and assess the environ- rricntal impact asscssmcnt process iri the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The FWS environmental impact assessment process has evolved from a procedural requirement limited to biological concerns to a more c o m p r e 11 ensi ve pro ce ss i nvol vi n g soc i a 1 and economic consider at i ons. 7'h i s historical overview describes changes in agency actions. Recent FWS en- vironmental impact assessments are examined that concern translocation of the Southern Sea Otter in California; master planning efforts related to thc heavily-visited Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge; use of steel shot for hunting fowl; antf comprehensive use plans for Alaskan national wildlife refuges.     

IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND POLICY FAILURE: THE NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY ACT OF 1982

We examine the role of environmental assessments in the siting process mandated under the ambitious Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. We analyze the effect of these assessments in both the western and eastern United States using the original documents, critiques of the methodology of the assessments, and public comments on the siting process, including a content analysis of hearings in Wisconsin and Maine. We conclude that the major effect of the assessments on the policy process was to stimulate public and state opposition to the Department of Energy's efforts to implement NWPA, leading to what could be called policy failure and a significant redirection of the act by Congress in late 1987. The paper represents an early report of a more comprehensive and ongoing study of the politics of nuclear waste disposal.     

IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND DEMOCRATIC POLITICS

The advent of impact assessment as a tool of policy is the latest chapter in our understanding of the relationship between science and politics. As such, it presents at least two challenges to democratic politics. Given its emphasis on appropriate procedural character of conteniporary democratic systems. And by raising the value of technical and scientific information in environmental disputes, impact assessment poses a challenge to existing concepts of popular sovereignty, based as they are on interest and preference rather than knowledge. These challenges, however, do not rep- resent irreconcilable differences. Although there may be an inherent ten- sion between impact assessment and democratic politics, there are also areas of affinity between the two. And we are destined to accept and adapt to this tension because, in fact, understanding is one of our principal defenses against tyranny.     

POLICY COMMUNITY,POLICY NETWORKS AND SCIENCE POLICY IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract: The policy community approach to policy analysis has been developed from ideas expressed by Richardson and Jordan in 1979. The approach is increasingly used to identify the key actors and groups of actors who make policy decisions, to analyse the interactions between the groups and to hypothesise about the types of outcomes achieved. The approach aids analysis in policy contexts which cut across the boundaries of individual organisations in the policy process, across the public and private sectors, and beyond national boundaries. This paper evaluates several expositions of the approach with reference to an analysis of science policy in Australia and suggests typological refinements which enhance its explanatory capacity.     

THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF ACADEMIC SCIENCE: UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY RELATIONS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE PUBLIC POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The issue of university-industry relations in the field of biotechnology illustrates the changing context of academic science. Research has become an organizational enterprise and no longer can be seen as simply the accumulation of individual efforts. This development complicates the normative context of academic science and in so doing introduces important policy questions, especially regarding interaction between industry and universities. Funding, faculty conflict of Interest, and the ownership of intellectual property resulting from research are policy issues which are analyzed in the context of some of the recent organizational changes in the performance of academic research.     

INTRODUCTION: WATER RESOURCES AND PUBLIC POLICY

Research in water resource policy historically has reflected more general trends in public policy analysis. This symposium focuses more narrowly upon a sample of some contemporary issues.     

SUBGOVERNMENTS AND THE IMPACT OF POLICY FRAGMENTATION AND ACCOMMODATION

For many years political scientists have utilized the subgovernment model of policy-making to explain certain types of policy output. Recently a number of scholars have argued that the traditional conceptualization of subgovernments was simplistic and incomplete. They view subgovernments as a complex and integral part of the larger policy-making environment. This paper examines this “new” subgovernment by analyzing its role in contemporary public policy-making. If subgovernments have lost their autonomy and been exposed to the complex demands of the larger political system, what impact does this have on policy outputs? Relying upon the literature on subgovernments and their principal components, the paper offers an interpretation of how subgovernments have potentially expanded their influence on public policy as a result of two contemporary developments: policy-making fragmentation, and the accommodation of policy outputs.     

PUBLIC PROTEST AND PUBLIC POLICY: THE ANTI-APARTHEID MOVEMENT AND POLITICAL INNOVATION*

With the Comprehensive Anti-apartheid Act of 1986, Congress instituted economic sanctions against South Africa, thereby reversing the historic course of U. S. foreign policy. This political innovation constituted a great victory for minority interests. This article utilizes the agenda-setting literature to examine the relationship between Anti-apartheid movement activity in the United States and adoption of economic sanctions against South Africa. The analysis is based upon an events data set consisting of 1353 events appearing in the New York Times between 1960 and 1986, interviews with activists and legislators, and archived materials. The ar- ticle concludes that although the Anti-apartheid movement was only in- directly involved in moving sanctions legislation to the policy agenda, the movement exerted direct influence in the policy process once the legislation had agenda status.