Suchergebnisse

Water management in Texas is increasingly salient as the population grows, water supplies continue to be taxed and the planet continues to warm, resulting in more severe, widespread, and frequent droughts in the state. Public support, though, is often essential for governments to enact large-scale projects, like those that may be needed to tackle water management issues. Given the challenges facing the state of Texas, surprisingly few studies explore public attitudes, preferences, and risk assessments about water-related resource allocations. Will the public act to direct or limit the actions of its elected officials on water issues? Is the public ready to consider policies, regulations, and expenditures concerning the potential impacts of increased drought frequency on Texas water resources? We report the results of 2 public opinion surveys of the citizens of Texas that focused on water management and drought issues. We find that the public is willing to support government efforts to manage water, but not if these efforts negatively affect the environment or agriculture. Citation: Stoutenborough JW, Vedlitz A. 2013. Public attitudes toward water management and drought in Texas. Texas Water Journal. 4(2):47-61. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v4i2.6354.

Objective. As the price of energy swells, renewable energy sources will serve as important alternatives to fossil fuels. Identifying what influences a state to adopt a policy that promotes the construction of renewable energy sources is an important step toward understanding the nature of our future energy supplies.Methods. Using an event‐history analysis, we examine three competing diffusion explanations on the likelihood of a state adopting net metering.Results. We find that regional policy diffusion influences the likelihood of a state to adopt a net metering policy.Conclusions. The results suggest that states are learning from one another and that the EPA's regional offices help facilitate this diffusion.

Recent research on policy narratives shows that stakeholders strategically switch away from their preferred policy narrative to a different policy narrative in an effort to better appeal to the public. While this level of strategic decision making may not be surprising, frameworks such as the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) do not currently outline a theoretical explanation to predict when and why this behavior may occur at the micro, or individual, level. While the NPF deals with strategic decision making, it has done so at the meso, or subsystem, level. Thus far, NPF micro‐level development has focused on explaining why the target of a policy narrative would choose to adopt a particular narrative as their own view on the issue. This project begins the process of developing micro‐level theory to outline how an individual engages in strategic decision making. Specifically, we integrate the theorizing behind the Third‐Person Effect (TPE) into the NPF to develop and test new micro‐level hypotheses related to this strategic decision‐making process. Results suggest that the TPE influences how and why stakeholders decide which policy narratives they think will best resonate with the public. This research can help scholars better explain and predict why policy entrepreneurs use certain policy narratives.

A great deal of research has been dedicated to understanding the relationship of public preferences to public policy. Much of this literature, though, does not account for risk perception, an important characteristic that affects individuals' preferences. In terms of policy, those who perceive high risk in association with a particular issue should be more likely to oppose policies that would increase that risk, and, conversely, support policies that would decrease this risk. In this article, we examine the role of specific risk perceptions related to nuclear, coal, and renewable sources of energy on related policy preferences. Controlling for the influence of knowledge and several specific attitudinal indicators, we find that risk perceptions are strong predictors of energy policy preferences.

Perspectives on trust in government -- A theory of trust in administrative agencies -- Assessing trust in the EPA -- Building a model of trust in the EPA -- Demographics and trust in the EPA -- Political ideology and trust in the EPA -- Issue-specific attitudes and trust in the EPA

AbstractThe use of scientific information in the policy-making process is prevalent in today's society, and political figures frequently consult scientists and experts when considering complex issues like climate change. While policy process literature concerning agenda setting and policy networks, such as epistemic communities and advocacy coalitions, considers the role of scientists in policymaking, very little work has provided insight into the relative influence and perceived relationships between scientists and policymakers. The ability of scientists and policymakers to work together has important implications for policy outcomes. We explore individual scientist's perceptions of the collective influence the scientific community has on policymaking, in addition to perceptions of relationships between scientists and policymakers. We suggest that a number of factors are relevant including trust, contact, attitudes, specialisation and demographics. Our findings indicate that, from scientists' perspectives, contact with policymakers, trust and attitudes about climate change play a significant role in shaping their relationship with policymakers.

AbstractThis study examines the factors that explain public preferences for a set of climate change policy alternatives. While scholarly work indicates a relationship between attitudes and values on views toward specific issues, the literature often examines general support for issues rather than specific policy proposals. Consequently, it is unclear the extent to which these attitudes and values affect specific policy considerations. This project examines public support for five climate change policy options in two national surveys taken three years apart. The empirical analysis reveals that time is a factor and that those who are liberal, have strong ecological values, report greater concern for climate change, and trust experts are consistently more supportive of the climate policy options considered here. The results shed new light on the nuanced views of the American public toward climate change.

Previous research has failed to adequately address why we should expect the diffusion of policy innovations in the realm of gun policy. As a social regulatory policy, gun policy may be highly influenced by policy adoptions in neighboring regions, in part due to the high likelihood of spillover effects. This article discusses under what conditions we should expect policy diffusion to occur from neighboring jurisdictions. We use event‐history analyses to evaluate impact of neighboring states diffusion pressure on the adoption of "shall issue" concealed weapons laws between 1974 and 2007. Neighboring diffusion pressure has a significant effect on policy adoption even when controlling for National Rifle Association membership and a previous adoption of a similar policy ("may issue" permit). We provide a rationale why scholars should find neighboring diffusion effects in some policy areas but not others.Related Articles
Cagel, Christine, and J. Michael Martinez. 2004. "." Politics & Policy 32 (): 278‐310. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2004.tb00185.x/abstract

Pufong, Marc, and Charles Kluball. 2009. "." Politics & Policy 37 (): 1235‐1280. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2009.00219.x/abstract


Clark, Jill. 2000. "." Southeastern Political Review 28 (): 3‐25. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2000.tb00565.x/abstract
Related MediaDocumentary: . 2008. "." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7uEpHFhDS4&list=LPz814mog8j1U&index=3&feature=plcp

Audiovisual Resources: . 2007. "." http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virginiatech.shootings/
Investigaciones anteriores no han tenido éxito en evaluar el por qué se debería esperar la difusión de políticas innovadoras en el ámbito de la regulación de armas. Vista como una política regulatoria social, la regulación de armas puede ser altamente influenciada por las regulaciones adoptadas en las regiones adyacentes, en parte debido a la alta probabilidad de efectos de propagación. Este estudio analiza bajo qué condiciones deberíamos esperar la difusión de políticas en jurisdicciones adyacentes. Usamos un Análisis de Eventos Históricos para evaluar el impacto de la presión en la difusión de estados adyacentes en la adopción de políticas "Shall Issue" para armas encubiertas entre 1974 y 2007. La presión en la difusión de estados contiguos tiene un efecto significativo en la adopción de regulaciones aún cuando se controla por membresía en la NRA y previas adopciones de políticas similares (permisos "May Issue"). Brindamos una explicación del por qué se deberían de encontrar efectos de difusión adyacentes en algunas políticas pero no en otras.