FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON THE REFERENDUM: THE EVIDENCE OF THE WELSH VOTE ON DEVOLUTION

Abstract: Developments during the 1970s, suggest that the referendum might become a more permanent feature of British politics. The Welsh referendum provides additional evidence as to its operational characteristics, which indicates: that organized interests can play a significant, if not crucial, role; that the polarization of issues on a'Yes-No'axis promotes confusion; that external events and, in particular, the government's standing, intrude on the central issue; and that it fails to resolve problems, sometimes even in the short run. Despite this the referendum is likely to be used as and when party political expedients require.     

Beyond Environmental Regulatory Fragmentation: Signs of Integration in the Case of the Great Lakes Basin

Environmental regulatory fragmentation along the medium boundaries of air, land, and water in Canada and the United States serves to skiff pollutants from medium to medium rather than contain or eliminate them. This pattern is particularly evident in the Great Lakes Basin where many of the most pressing environmental problems stem from pollutant transfer across medium or jurisdictional lines. The impediments to more integrated environmental regulation remain considerable in the Basin, and include the enduring single-medium orientation of federal programs and limitations of state, provincial, or regional innovation. Nonetheless, there is growing indication that regulatory integration need not be dismissed as a theoretical nicety but political impossibility. A series of recent developments indicate a shift toward greater integration in the Basin, prompted in large part by environmental policy professionals who increasingly recognize the limitations of current approaches and are willing to devise alternatives. These developments are occurring at the regional as well as state and provincial levels, and they give far greater definition than ever before to the idea of integrated environmental regulation.