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.     

The Medicaid Mandates of the 1980s: An Intergovernmental Perspective

Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, has undergone significant changes in the last fifteen years. Many of those changes relate to the intergovernmental nature of the program. Medicaid is jointly operated, with the federal and state governments sharing program costs. Despite a set of program guidelines dictated by the federal government, states have traditionally had substantial latitude in Medicaid decisions. However, a series of developments in the 1980s led to increasing constraints on state Medicaid discretion, including federal mandates to expand Medicaid coverage. This article examines the inception and effectiveness of the Medicaid mandates from the perspective of interstate equity of health care services for poor families.     

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.     

City Managers View Intergovernmental Relations

This report presents the findings of a national survey of citymanagers concerning intergovernmental relations. Key aspectsof intergovernmental relations covered in the survey are theadministration of the grant system, effects of federal grantson local government decisionmaking, types of federal aid, imagesof federal administrators, intergovernmental service agreements,comparison of state and federal government, and city managerinvolvement in intergovernmental relations.     

Intergovernmental Relations and Base Closing

Military base closings have accelerated since the end of theCold War, and an independent decisionmaking process is in placefor deciding which bases to close. With more closures has comeincreased debate about the appropriate federal role in assistingcommunities faced with base closures. There has been a gradualincrease in the salience of the issue and in the range of federalassistance provided to the affected communities. This has ledto questions regarding the determination of the bounds of affectedcommunities, and the measures to be used in determining successin the base-closure process. The federal government defers tostate decisions regarding community definition, broadening itsown definition of success to include entire communities, andnot just acreage within the fence posts of the closed facilities.Issues of homelessness and environmental cleanup now play alarger role in reuse decision than in the past     

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.     

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.     

The Transformation of the Central Administration in Spanish Intergovernmental Relations

The role of the central administration in Spain is examinedin relation to the European Union, autonomous communities, andlocal governments. The position of the central administrationhas changed dramatically in light of the transformation of theregime from dictatorship to democracy. Once the dominant actorin the system, it now plays more of a "middleman" or brokerrole within a decentralized state. Fundamental questions ofthe efficacy and legitimacy of the central administration ina federalizing system are also raised.     

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。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations: Coordination Failures and Fiscal Outcomes

This article estimates the fiscal impact of coordination failures in intergovernmental fiscal relations. The coordination failures considered here are due to agency problems arising from the delegation of fiscal powers to sub-national governments, and "common pool" problems associated with funding decentralised government spending through intergovernmental transfers. Particular attention is focused on the trade-off between coordination and fiscal decentralisation. Evidence provided for a sample of thirty countries suggests that coordination failures are likely to result in a deficit bias in decentralized policy making, particularly in the case of developing countries, for which the benefits of decentralization may be over-stressed. Developed countries were found to be less adversely affected by coordination failures and have therefore managed to pursue fiscal consolidation in a decentralized setup.     

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.     

Intergovernmental Growth Management: A Partnership Framework for State-Local Relations

Growth management receives strong support as a policy concept.However, there are serious political reservations concerningits implementation. The Florida Growth Management Act is anexample of a well constructed policy that relies on a partnershipapproach to state-local relations. Its implementation during1989 has brought to light the difficulties in maintaining thatpartnership, mainly due to disagreements over responsibilityfor funding the infrastructure needed to manage growth. Statewillingness to negotiate revenue sources and responsibilityis essential to strong state-local relations. The complexitiesof financing growth management threaten the viability of strongplanning policy, regardless of its rationality.     

Public Sector Reform, Intergovernmental Relations and the Future of Australian Federalism

Recent developments in the reform of intergovernmental relations have been influenced by contemporary models of public sector reform. Their systematic application to intergovernmental administration, in particular the manner in which jointly funded and managed programs are organised, may have profound and unanticipated effects on the federal system. When viewed in the context of a recent history of collaborative policymaking between political executives, the possibility that new forms of intergovernmental joint policy-making and program management might become the norm poses serious challenges to federal traditions of dual government. Arm's length and collaborative forms of joint decision making are contrasted as ideal types, and then used to analyse two case studies in collaborative intergovernmental decision-making — National Competition Policy and the National Training Agreement. It is concluded that the system-wide implications are profound if they are part of a broader trend, but caution is expressed about the powers of inertia and resistance in traditional forms of federal politics.