Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T12:05:50.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Policy Reversal and Changing Politics: State Governments and Dam Removals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

William R. Lowry
William R. Lowry*
Affiliation:
Washington University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Does the type of policy being considered determine the politics surrounding it? In this article, I examine how policy reversals may produce different politics than initial policy adoptions in the context of state river management policy. Traditionally, dam building was the dominant management policy, but in recent decades, efforts to restore rivers to their natural conditions through the removal of dams have become more prominent. I find that the patterns of state policymaking for policy reversals are generally similar to those that have been documented for policy adoptions, but with some important differences. Diffusion of reversals involves more states outside of active regions than is seen typically with policy adoption, and reversal diffusion occurs more gradually than adoption diffusion with many policy innovations. Finally, the most important determinants of these state policy reversals are a state's fiscal health and the presence of relevant interest groups.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , Winter 2005 , pp. 394 - 419
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Rivers. 1999. Dam Removal Success Stories. Washington, DC: American Rivers.Google Scholar
American Rivers. 2000. “Dam Removal Nationwide since the Removal of Edwards Dam.” Working paper. Washington, DC: American Rivers.Google Scholar
American Rivers. 2005. “Dam removal: current efforts.” Unpublished dataset. http://www.americanrivers.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AMR_content_12d1 (June 14, 2005).Google Scholar
Babbitt, Bruce. 2001. “A River Runs against It: America's Evolving View of Dams.” Open Spaces Quarterly 1:11–5.Google Scholar
Barker, Rocky. 1999. “Dam Falls: Kennebec Flows Free,” Idaho Statesman, 2 July, 1a.Google Scholar
Barrilleaux, Charles. 1997. “A Test of the Independent Influences of Electoral Competition and Party Strength in a Model of State Policy-Making.” American Journal of Political Science 41:1462–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrilleaux, Charles, Holbrook, Thomas, and Langer, Laura. 2002. “Electoral Competition, Legislative Balance, and American State Welfare Policy.” American Journal of Political Science 46:415–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, Frank R., and Jones, Bryan D.. 1993. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Berry, Frances Stokes, and Berry, William D.. 1992. “Tax Innovation in the States.” American Journal of Political Science 36:715–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, Frances Stokes, and Berry, William D.. 1999. “Innovation and Diffusion Models in Policy Research.” In Theories of the Policy Process, ed. Sabatier, Paul A.. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Beyle, Thad. 2001. “Gubernatorial Power.” Unpublished dataset. www.unc.edu/~beyle (June 14, 2005).Google Scholar
Blomquist, William. 1999. “The Policy Process and Large-N Comparative Studies.” In Theories of the Policy Process, ed. Sabatier, Paul A.. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Bosso, Christopher J. 1987. Pesticides and Politics. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Calvert, Jerry. 1989. “Party Politics and Environmental Policy.” In Environmental Politics and Policy, ed. Lester, J.. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Jeanne N., and McCool, Daniel C.. 1996. Staking out the Terrain. 2nd ed. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Council of State Governments. 2000. Book of the States 2000. Lexington, KY: Council of State Governments.Google Scholar
Council of State Governments. 2002. Book of the States 2002. Lexington, KY: Council of State Governments.Google Scholar
Cronin, John, and Kennedy, Robert F. Jr. 1997. The Riverkeepers. New York: Scribner.Google Scholar
Dawson, Richard E., and Robinson, James A.. 1963. “Inter-Party Competition, Economic Variables, and Welfare Policies in the American States.” Journal of Politics 25:265–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DePalma, Anthony. 2004. “Rebuilding a Riverbed, For the Love of a Tiny Mussel.” The New York Times, 26 April, A18.Google Scholar
Eads, George C., and Fix, Michael. 1984. Relief or Reform? Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Elazar, Daniel J. 1984. American Federalism: A View from the States. 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., Wright, Gerald C. Jr., and McIver, John P.. 1993. Statehouse Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Feiock, Richard C., and West, Jonathan P.. 1993. “Testing Competing Explanations for Policy Adoption: Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Programs.” Political Research Quarterly 46:399–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferejohn, John A. 1974. Pork Barrel Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Foster, John L. 1978. “Regionalism and Innovation in the American States.” Journal of Politics 40:179–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritschler, A. Lee. 1989. Smoking and Politics. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Gaddie, Ronald Keith, and Regens, James L.. 2000. Regulating Wetlands Protection. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Game, Kingsley W. 1979. “Controlling Air Pollution: Why Some States Try Harder.” Policy Studies Journal 7:728–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garnet, James L. 1980. Reorganizing State Government: The Executive Branch. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Gerstenzang, James. 1998. “Dam Destruction in North Carolina,” The Los Angeles Times, 28 January, 1d.Google Scholar
Glick, Henry R., and Hays, Scott P.. 1991. “Innovation and Reinvention in State Policymaking: Theory and the Evolution of Living Will Laws.” Journal of Politics 53:835–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goggin, Malcolm L., Bowman, Ann O'M., Lester, James P., and O'Toole, Laurence J. Jr. 1990. Implementation Theory and Practice. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Gormley, William T. Jr. 1986. “Regulatory Issue Networks in a Federal System.” Polity 18:595–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia. 1973. “Innovation in the States: A Diffusion Study.” American Political Science Review 67:1174–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia. 1994. “Competition, Emulation, and Policy Innovation.” In New Perspectives on American Politics, eds. Dodd, Lawrence C. and Jillson, Calvin. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Grossman, Elizabeth. 2002. Watershed. New York: Counterpoint.Google Scholar
Haider-Markel, Donald. 1998. “The Politics of Social Regulatory Policy: State and Federal Hate Crime Policy and Implementation Effort.” Political Research Quarterly 51:69–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haider-Markel, Donald, and O'Brien, Sean P.. 1997. “Creating a ‘Well Regulated Militia’: Policy Responses to Paramilitary Groups in the American States.” Political Research Quarterly 50:551–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Bob, and Kerr, Mary Lee. 1991. 1991-92 Green Index. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Hansen, Susan B. 1983. The Politics of Taxation: Revenue without Representation. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Harris, Richard A., and Milkis, Sidney M.. 1989. The Politics of Regulatory Change. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hays, Scott P. 1996. “Influences on Reinvention during the Diffusion of Innovations.” Political Research Quarterly 49:631–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofferbert, Richard I. 1966. “Ecological Development and Policy Change in the American States.” Midwest Journal of Political Science 10:464–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, Thomas M., and Dunk, Emily Van. 1993. “Electoral Competition in the American States.” American Political Science Review 87:955–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hwang, Sung-Don, and Gray, Virginia. 1990. “External Limits and Internal Determinants of State Public Policy.” Western Political Quarterly 44:277–98.Google Scholar
International Rivers Network. 2001. Dam Removal: The U.S. Experience. Berkeley, CA: International Rivers Network.Google Scholar
Kiefer, N. 1988. “Economic Duration Data and Hazard Functions.” Journal of Economic Literature 26:646–79.Google Scholar
King, James D. 2000. “Changes in Professionalism in U.S. State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25:327–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, John W. 1984. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Lester, James P. 1995. “Federalism and State Environmental Policy.” In Environmental Politics and Policy, ed. Lester, James P.. 2nd ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Lindblom, Charles E. 1959. “The Science of Muddling Through.” Public Administration Review 19:79–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowi, Theodore J. 1964. “American Business, Public Policy, Case-Studies, and Political Theory.” World Politics 16:677–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowry, William R. 1992. The Dimensions of Federalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Lowry, William R. 2003. Dam Politics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Lutz, James M. 1986. “The Spatial and Temporal Diffusion of Selected Licensing Laws in the United States.” Political Geography Quarterly 5:141–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maass, Arthur. 1951. Muddy Waters. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazmanian, Daniel A., and Nienaber, Jeanne. 1979. Can Organizations Change? Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
McClain, Serena. 2004. “60 Dams in 15 States to Be Removed in 2004.” Working paper. Washington, DC: American Rivers.Google Scholar
Meier, Kenneth J. 1994. The Politics of Sin: Drugs, Alcohol, and Public Policy. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Meier, Kenneth J., and Johnson, Cathy. 1990. “The Politics of Demon Rum.” American Politics Quarterly 18:404–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meier, Kenneth J., and McFarlane, Deborah R.. 1992. “State Policies on Funding Abortions: A Pooled Time Series Analysis.” Social Science Quarterly 73:690–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Mintrom, Michael. 1997. “Policy Entrepreneurs and the Diffusion of Innovation.” American Journal of Political Science 41:738–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mooney, Christopher Z. 2001. “Modeling Regional Effects on State Policy Diffusion.” Political Research Quarterly 54:103–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mooney, Christopher Z., and Lee, Mei-Hsien. 1995. “Legislating Morality in the American States.” American Journal of Political Science 39:599–627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mooney, Christopher Z., and Lee, Mei-Hsien. 2000. “The Influence of Values on Consensus and Contentious Morality Policy: U.S. Death Penalty Reform, 1956-82.” Journal of Politics 62:223–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mucciaroni, Gary. 1995. Reversals of Fortune. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Nash, Roderick Frazier. 2001. Wilderness and the American Mind. 4th ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
National Research Council. 1992. Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
National Research Council. 2002. The Missouri River Ecosystem: Exploring the Prospects for Recovery. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Peterson, Paul E. 1981. City Limits. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Postel, Sandra, and Richter, Brian. 2003. Rivers for Life. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Rabe, Barry G. 2003. “Power to the States.” In Environmental Policy, eds. Vig, Norman J. and Kraft, Michael E.. 5th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Reisner, Marc. 1987. Cadillac Desert. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Ringquist, Evan J. 1993. Environmental Protection at the State Level. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Rogers, Everett. 1983. Diffusion of Innovations. 3rd ed. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Ruhil, Anirudh V.S. 2003. “Urban Armageddon or Politics as Usual? The Case of Municipal Civil Service Reform.” American Journal of Political Science 47:159–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabatier, Paul A., and Jenkins-Smith, Hank C.. 1999. “The Advocacy Coalition Framework.” In Theories of the Policy Process, ed. Sabatier, Paul A.. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Sapoweth, Amy, and Ridley, Scott. 1988. “Surface Water Protection.” In The State of the States 1988. Washington, DC: Renew America Project.Google Scholar
Schneiders, Robert Kelley. 1999. Unruly River: Two Centuries of Change along the Missouri. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Shallat, Todd. 1994. Structures in the Stream. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
State Environmental Resource Center. 2003. “Innovative State Legislation on Water Conservation.” Madison, WI: SERC.Google Scholar
Stream, Christopher. 1999. “Health Reform in the States: A Model of State Small Group Health Insurance Market Reforms.” Political Research Quarterly 52:499–525.Google Scholar
United States Army Corps of Engineers. 1996. National Inventory of Dams. Washington, DC: ACE.Google Scholar
Urbina, Ian. 2004. “Dam Builder Becomes a Dam Breaker to Help Save a Species,” The New York Times, 22 September, A20.Google Scholar
Walker, Jack L. 1969. “The Diffusion of Innovation among the American States.” American Political Science Review 63:880–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, Jack L. 1973. “Comment: Problems in Research on the Diffusion of Innovations.” American Political Science Review 67:1186–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wildavsky, Aaron. 1964. The Politics of the Budgetary Process. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Williams, Bruce A., and Matheny, Albert R.. 1984. “Testing Theories of Social Regulation.” Journal of Politics 46:428–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Resources Institute. 1993. Environmental Almanac. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Worster, Donald. 1985. Rivers of Empire. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Wright, Gerald C. Jr., Erikson, Robert S., and McIver, John P.. 1987. “Public Opinion and Policy Liberalism in the American States.” American Journal of Political Science 31:980–1001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar