National Competition Policy — Its Evolution and Implementation: A Study in Intergovernmental Relations

The second reading speech on the Competition Policy Reform Bill 1995 described the policy as 'the most important single development in micro-economic reform in recent years'. The speech went on to describe the vision of the Hilmer Report 'for a national competition policy in which the commonwealth, states and territories cooperated to ensure that universal and uniformly applied rules of market conduct apply to all market participants regardless of their form of ownership'. This article considers how this vision was translated into reality.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

The Council of Australian Governments and Intergovernmental Relations: A Case of Cooperative Federalism

A series of Special Premiers' Conferences begun in 1990, andthe establishment of the Council of Australian Governments in1992, signaled a phase of "cooperative federalism" in Australia.Joint schemes of policy and legislation and new national intergovernmentalbodies were made by a series of formal agreements. The conditionsand circumstances are appraised in a discussion of the natureof intergovernmental coordination and cooperation, and fromthe critical perspective of a model of competitive federalism.It is concluded that the initiatives, largely, did not representa centralizing process, nor did they override strongly articulatedclaims for diversity. This is made clear following an analysisof the processes occurring in the newly established federalinstitutions and from a series of brief case studies. They expressedthe continuing interdependency and underlying autonomy of stateand Commonwealth governments through schemes that promised tobring agreed, joint benefits through federal solutions.     

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 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.     

Managerialism, Accountability and Democracy: A Victorian Case Study

Managerialism has made a substantial contribution to providing a more cost conscious, efficient and effective public service. But the Victorian case also raises concerns about whether managerialist techniques will be pursued within a wider constitutional, political and legal framework which recognises the need for discussion, debate and accountability in democratic policy-making.     

Australian Public Policy, Federalism, and Intergovernmental Relations: The Federal Factor

Public policy is the overt activity of governing and what governmentshave as their primary purpose. This is so whether the politicalsystem is unitary or federal. There are many more elements thatcomplicate policymaking in a federal system. In particular,constitutional, financial, and political issues intrude becauseof the necessary interdependence of otherwise independent andautonomous national and subnational components. This articleaddresses this complexity of joint action through use of theideas about federalism, the structure of governing institutions,and the processes of policymaking. The extent to which an outcomedepends on the mixture of independence and interdependence isconceptualized as degrees of the federal factor. Linking thisconcept to particular policy arenas may provide a better understandingof federal systems than explanation from centralization or decentralizationor dependence or independence.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Political Parties and Intergovernmental Relations in 1984: The Consequences of Party Renewal for Territorial Constituencies

Democratic and Republican efforts at party renewal have differedin approach, but both can be recognized as intergovernmentalphenomena having significant implications for American federalism.The Democratic Party's national charter and delegate selectionrules, for instance, have federalized the governing structureof the party. The national Republican Party organization hasdeveloped such a large base of financial resources andcampaignservices that state Republican parties and candidate committeeshave begun to accept national party authority along with itsmoney. Moreover, as national, state, and local parties and candidatesincreasingly coordinate their delegate selection, finance, andother campaigh activities, they may transform the decentralizedparty system that has been a protector of state and local influencewithin the federal government. National ideological constituencieswithin both party organizations may rival territorial and functionalconstituencies for the attention of federal elected officials.