Suchergebnisse

In the century after the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, the European state sys­tem was established on the basis of the political principle of territoriality and of the legal principle of sovereign equality. The former notion entailed the effective control by the major princes within established territorial limits and the second concept established the norm of complete political jurisdiction by the prince and his government within these territorial boundaries unencumbered by any earthly, external authority.

When we look back on great historical events, we often ascribe an inevitability to things that were, in fact, anything but. In this lucid and comprehensive study of the formulation and enactment of the Marshall Plan, John Bonds recounts how this great pillar of American post–World War II policy was anything but inevita- ble. Bonds, a retired captain of the U.S. Navy and professor of history at the Citadel in Charlestown, South Carolina, concludes his penultimate chapter on the final legislative approval of what was to be Public Law 793 with the words: "So it was finally done. The country had made a significant commitment to Europe and to internationalism in general, consciously and with conviction, despite some difficult holdouts like Mr. John Taber, Chairman, House Appropriations Committee.

The political collapse of Europe at the conclusion of World War II and the rise of dominance of the United States and the Soviet Union curbed two fundamental and contradictory trends in European history: the tendency toward a secular unity of Europe and the tribal divisions of Europe.

A host of research has been produced in the decade since Baumgartner and Jones' theory of punctuated equilibrium first drew attention to the dynamics of policy change over time. Much of this research follows a topic across time, highlighting the shift from negative to positive feedback as challengers push an issue from subsystem to institutional level. Far less attention has been paid to the periods between major punctuations, neglecting key questions about whether incremental periods reflect an absence of challengers or the successful defense of established subsystem interests.This research is a comparison of policy change across two segments of environmental policy. The breakup of the timber subsystem was a clear victory for environmentalists, yet these same actors have been largely unsuccessful at dislodging established grazing interests. These findings highlight the strategic value of venue shifting for bypassing entrenched interests and illustrate the potential for successful challenges to occur in judicial venues.

Focusing events have been widely referenced in policy studies literature as important drivers of major policy change. In multiple streams theory, punctuated equilibrium theory, and the advocacy coalition framework, they play a prominent role in explaining how major changes occur. Nearly all existing research, however, has focused on the very large and catastrophic events that catapult otherwise obscure issues onto the agenda, to the neglect of focusing events that may perform other functions. This article examines one such event: the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the tobacco industry and the states signed in 1998. I observe that although the MSA focused substantial attention on the topic of tobacco regulation, produced major policy change, and shifted the policy image of the domain, it was not a typical focusing event. Drawing from the tipping point theories of Sociology and Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, I expand a theoretical distinction articulated by Baumgartner and Jones between "triggering" events and "consolidating" or "tipping" events to resolve this discrepancy.

Many regulatory studies have highlighted the role of state & federal mandates in encouraging local governments to adopt policies governing natural hazards & other public risks. Yet Wilson (1980) argues that the successful implementation of these policies requires a skilled entrepreneur to mobilize latent public support & relate the legislation to widely shared values. This study examines the influence of these & other factors on the adoption of local seismic regulations in California. The findings show that policy entrepreneurs are more influential than was previously understood, more so than the degree of seismic hazard, local capacity, or state & federal mandates. 4 Tables, 23 References. Adapted from the source document.