Suchergebnisse

Making a success of welfare reform has as much to do with implementation as with policy design. The experience in Wisconsin and New York generalises too much of the US, with states divided into those successfully implementing work-based reform, those incapacitated by partisan divisions and those that have never seriously framed welfare policy. Three decisions are key: the degree of toughness, the amount of programme integration; and the locus of administrative control which are shaped by long standing differences in political culture, moralistic, individualistic and traditionalistic. States adopting a moralistic approach to policy administration generally achieve most success.

ABSTRACTPublic policy research has not combined policy and political analysis as its pioneers imagined. Mostly, political scientists study just the policy process, abandoning prescriptions to policy specialists. A better approach is to combine policy and political analysis, using positions on issues to assess policymaking, and vice versa. This article illustrates that approach by applying it to recent welfare reform. I take raising work levels as the chief goal of reform and assess the Family Support Act (FSA) of 1988 and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 against it. FSA was a timid compromise that achieved little while PRWORA was a conflicted measure that achieved more, but at unnecessary risk. I also ask how the tensions between best policy and politics might be resolved. This approach makes public policy research more relevant to the real stakes in policymaking. [142 words.]

Public policy research has not combined policy & political analysis as its pioneers imagined. Mostly, political scientists study just the policy process, abandoning prescriptions to policy specialists. A better approach is to combine policy & political analysis, using positions on issues to assess policy making, & vice versa. This article illustrates that approach by applying it to recent welfare reform. I take raising work levels as the chief goal of reform & assess the Family Support Act (FSA) of 1988 & the Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 against it. FSA was a timid compromise that achieved little, while PRWORA was a conflicted measure that achieved more, but at unnecessary risk. I also ask how the tensions between best policy & politics might be resolved. This approach makes public policy research more relevant to the real stakes in policy making. 70 References. Adapted from the source document.

The article suggests a new model for the implementation of social programs based on welfare reform in Wisconsin. Existing models tend to be top-down or bottom-up, but in Wisconsin the leading counties and the state government worked interactively to transform welfare. Existing accounts of the Wisconsin reform stress state-level leadership, but key features such as high participation in work programs and an emphasis on "work first" rather than training were developed first in Kenosha and several other counties and then adopted statewide. The article also dramatizes the critical role of strong program management and organization.