PSC 402 Midterm

The Conservation-Efficiency Movement (CL)

• (1920-1960)

• More concerned with habitat than sustenance

• Developed largely under the pressures of increased leisure and affluence and the growth of outdoor recreation

  • Drew its support from the upper middle class and from hunting and fishing groups of the working class 

• Main problems was the struggles between those who favored “multiple use” of public lands and those who favored “pure preservation” 

• Often included capitalist sponsors → Laurence Rockefeller, who facilitated the preservation of major tracts of land surrounding the hotels that he built

• Much of the emphasis on natural resources was shifted from conservation of public lands to programs of conservation under private ownership

• Concerns resided in local and especially national voluntary organizations like the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Wilderness Society, etc. 

• 1921 - 1950

  • New Deal 

  • Much of the federal legislation for natural resources became associated with broad social and economic objectives → Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 - passed to control agricultural production

  • The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 

    • Planted millions of trees in the Dust Bowl states 

• Upgraded national parks     

The Conservation-Preservation Movement (CL)

• (1890-1920)

• Rational planning by government to promote efficient development and use of all natural resources 

• Grew out of the firsthand experience of federal administrators and political leaders with problems of Western economic growth - especially water development

• The organized forestry movement in the US shifted its emphasis from saving trees to promoting sustained-yield forest management

• By 1891, the executive branch set aside “forest reserves” within the federal domain to authorize selective cutting and marketing of timber in 1897 

• Four basic doctrines that made up the creed of the conservation movement:

  • 1. Conservation is not the locking-up of resources–it is their development and wise use

  • 2. Conservation is the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest time 

  • 3. The federal public lands belong to all the people

  • 4. Comprehensive, multi-purpose river basin planning and development should be utilized with respect to the nation’s water resources 

• Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot

  • Roosevelt admin supported the conservation movement as it is for the initiation of new policies and legislative enactments

  • Increased the number of reserves

  • New land-management forces

• 1908-1920

  • Numerous conflicts over conservation policy

    • Livestock ranges – too many animals

    • Range wars - all struggled for control of the public grazing lands 

• Deepest significance of the conservation movement “lay in its political implications: how should resource decisions be made and by whom?”

• Characterized by conflicts between extractive industries in the West and manufacturing industries in the East

• Concerns resided with corporations and national & state agencies 

Social Theory (LT)

• “an attempt to specify as clearly as possible a set of ideas that pertain to a particular phenomenon or set of phenomena”

• Analytical frameworks or paradigms used to examine social phenomena

• Explains how societies change and develop method of explaining social behaviors                                            

Ecology of Games Framework (LT) 

• Multiple policymaking venues that are available to actors playing policy games 

• Decisions made in one venue may affect     

• Variety of policymaking venues

• Policies made in one venue can spill over and affect decisions in other venues (ex. court decision can influence decision making in legislature)

• spillover effects                             

Advocacy Coalition Framework (LT)

• Important theoretical framework that views individuals as boundedly rational and driven by their belief systems 

• Coalitions changes when beliefs change                     

Rational Choice Theory (LT)

• Individuals, when faced with choices, choose the one alternative that maximizes their utility – homo economicus 

  • Empirical – seeks to predict and explain behavior 

  • Normative – self-interested behavior is good because it allocates resources most efficiently 

  • Two assumptions: 

    • 1. Individuals are aware of their “preferences or goals, can rank order them, and when faced with a set of options to achieve those preferences, will choose those expected to maximize benefits and minimize individual costs

    • 2. Methodological individualism – presumes that it’s possible to aggregate these unique individual choices collectively 

      • Aggregation of these individual choices into a collective choice is what constitutes public policy

• RCT – idea that the market, rather than the government, performs better in pursuit of our collective goals

  • Bc governments generate a number of different failures, including the difficulty of accurately aggregating individual preferences

    • May include the problem of preference intensity – occurs in voting arrangements where an individual is given one vote to register their preference on a given issue 

  • However, it would be possible for an individual to vote on the basis of how strongly he or she feels about a given issue

IAD Framework (LT)

• Institutional Analysis and Design   

• Offshoot of the RCT

• Advances the ration choice traditions, but does so by relaxing the assumption of full information and known preferences                                                    

Multiple Streams Framework LT) 

• Developed by John Kingdon in 1984

• Explains why some issues make it to policy agenda and some do not

• Policy process can be thought of as three independent streams

• Problems

• Policies

• Politics

• When three are linked by policy entrepreneurs, thus creating windows of opportunity to enact policy                         

 Punctuated Equilibrium Framework (LT)

• Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) seeks to explain both the stability and change occurring in the American political system. 

• PET is an important  theory because it informs a longstanding empirical debate about whether public policymaking is a rational or an incremental enterprise (Lindblom 1959)                  

Bounded Rationality (LT)

• The idea that in decision making the rationality is limited by:

• The information they have

• The cognitive limitations of their minds

• The finite amount of time they have to make a decision                                       

Satisficing (LT)

• occurs when decision-makers consider only feasible alternatives (instead of comprehensively inventorying all of them) and/or settle on the first best alternative that comes to mind.

• Aiming to achieve only satisfactory results because the satisfactory position is familiar, hassle-free and secure

• Whereas aiming for the best achievable result would call for costs, effort and incurring of risk

• Stopping the search instead of looking for the best-possible solution                                                      

Executive Office of the President (WR)

• the institution of the presidency surrounding the Oval Office; including an array of administrative resources and personal staff; essential for the president to fulfill his constitutional responsibilities

Office of Management and Budget (WR)

• permanent civil service appointees; critically appointed personnel; provide expert administrative advice, oversee the implementation of presidential policies, and provide continuity from one presidency to the next; domestic equivalent of the national security agency.

Marketable Permits (Fiorino)

• aka cap and trade, ITQ system

• total pollutions cap set by regulatory agency, polluters can trade for permits

• goal: not to exceed a certain amount 

Environmental Justice (Wk 2)

• The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies - EPA definition                        

Environmental Management Systems (Fior)

• Processes business will put into to place to manage their own pollution; continue to collect data and set goals to minimize pollution, measure their ability to meet those goals, make adjustments later on depending on how well they met those goals; institute those goals and re measure, continuous improvement - having a strategic plan for pollution      

Wicked Problems (video)

• very crosscutting, relentless, system level problems that our society faces; cannot be solved in a traditional way that requires new approaches and ideas; ex - climate change, economic crisis

• Wicked Problems are fundamentalism, crisis, global warming, and aging. They are wicked because individuals' beliefs and habits are part of the problems. In order to approach them we need new approaches, novel ideas, and fresh minds. Solving a wicked problem is considered a wicked problem itself, but utilizing a diverse group that have many different ideas and talents to offer help try different approaches                                                

Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin)

• Population control; not having enough resources to provide for the amount of people on the planet; common pool resource problem; pool resource that needs to be managed but everyone in their own self interest takes from the resources causing the problem; not just taking out but also putting in (ex: having a common air shed where everyone contributes to the pollution - taking out all the clean air; solution - putting catalytic convertors in people's cars) creating social solutions for this such as education and other solutions as well                                  

Standards and Deterrence (Fiorino)

• Standards and deterrence are two approaches used to regulate and enforce compliance with environmental laws and regulations. Standards refer to legally binding requirements or benchmarks established by government agencies to limit pollutants or contaminants. These act as guidelines for businesses and are enforced through monitoring, reporting, permits, inspections, and penalties. Deterrence is the method of using enforcement actions or regulations to discourage violations of environmental laws. Fines, penalties, sanctions, revoking of permits, and other enforcement actions are used to deter illegal behavior.

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (WR)

• a unit of the Office of Management and Budget that sets federal policy on statistics and reviews draft rules before publication; the United States Government's central authority for the review of Executive Branch regulations, approval of Government information collections, establishment of Government statistical practices, and coordination of Federal privacy policy

Fees and Charges (Fiorino)

• fees you would pay for a carbon or gas tax; ex - pay-per-bag - bags that you purchase from your town to pay for trash                                 

The Department of the Interior (WR)

• The U.S. Department of the Interior protects and manages the Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and affiliated Island Communities; plays a central role in how the United States stewards its public lands, increases environmental protections, pursues environmental justice, and honors our nation-to-nation relationship with Tribes.                    

Policy Feedback Theory (LT)

• Views politics over a very long time horizon

• Interested in how decisions are made at "critical juncture" in history

• Shape future public policy

• Lock in other policies       

• The Policy Feedback Theory differs substantially from others because it views politics over a long time horizon. Interests stems from how decisions made at "critical junctures" in history have shaped future public policies. It also identifies how these decisions were able to "lock-in" other policies.                    

Voluntary Challenge Programs (Fiorino)

• Programs that can be entered or left whenever necessary

• Promotes environmental responsibility

• Strengthens relationship between regulators and industry              

Information Disclosure (Fiorino)

• Make information on pollution available to everyone; important people can seize that information and advocate and make change for these issues; ex - journalist putting stories together and relative pollution that is produced by various companies - prompts public conversation; a more flexible way of holding companies and businesses accountable

Iron Triangle (Fiorino and Lecture)

• Comprises the policy-making relationship among the:

• Congressional committees

• Interest groups

• Administrative agencies

• Government complained about their strength

• Sub government

 Agency Capture (Fiorino and Lecture

• aka regulatory capture

• regulators are "captured" by the industry they attempt to regulate

• ex. BLM after Taylor Grazing Act- ranchers resisted BLM efforts to control them