When Cooperative Federalism Isn’t: How U.S. Federal Interagency Contradictions Impede Effective Wetland Management

Gwen Arnold

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2015, vol. 45, issue 2, 244-269

Abstract: One goal of cooperative federalism is for the federal government to help states adopt policies that are widely considered socially beneficial but which states might not adopt independently. Sometimes, however, federal interventions actually can prevent states from adopting sound policy innovations. U.S. states struggle to adopt rapid wetland assessment tools because of contradictory pressures exerted on states by two federal agencies locked in protracted conflict. This tension creates opportunities for states to influence federal policy and leads each federal agency to try to use states as instruments for imposing its priorities on the other. When analyzing the conditions under which cooperative federalism does not achieve its intended purposes, scholars should attend to horizontal intergovernmental complexity and the realities of policy implementation.

Date: 2015
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