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作者

来源

URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW,Vol.55,Issue3,P.675-702

语言

英文

关键字

environmental policy; government responsiveness; policy implementation; POLITICS; JUSTICE; STATE; FEDERALISM; CITY; RESPONSIVENESS; INSTITUTIONS; ENFORCEMENT; COMPETITION; PRINCIPALS

作者单位

[Switzer, David] Florida Atlantic Univ, Sch Publ Adm, Boca Raton, FL 33431 USA. Switzer, D (reprint author), Florida Atlantic Univ, 777 Glades Rd,SO202, Boca Raton, FL 33431 USA. E-Mail: dswitzer@fau.edu

摘要

Local governments play a large, if understudied, role in the implementation of environmental policy in the United States. The major environmental statutes outline explicit responsibilities for the federal and state governments in enforcement under a cooperative federalism framework, and a literature on environmental federalism has developed looking at how variables at the state level affect implementation. Largely ignored by this literature is the important part local governments play in implementation. This study explores one way local politics may influence implementation, investigating the effect of citizen preferences on municipal compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The findings show that utilities in Democratic leaning areas violate the SDWA less frequently than those in Republican leaning areas. The results suggest that just as politics influence environmental policy implementation at the federal and state levels, the local role in environmental policy is inherently tied to the political incentives facing municipalities.