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Swing Issues and Policy Regimes: Federal Education Policy and the Politics of Policy Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2009

Patrick McGuinn
Patrick McGuinn
Affiliation:
Drew University
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Extract

Political scientists have long debated the nature of the American political system, particularly the degree to which the federal government is amenable to major policy initiation and reform. There are two basic schools of thought on this question. One school—which I will call the stasis school—argues that the system is highly resistant to major change. The other school of policymaking—which I will call the dynamic school—emphasizes the openness and responsiveness of America's political system and the relative ease of generating reform at the national level. While the stasis and dynamic schools are helpful in explaining systemic tendencies and the influence of particular forces on the policy process, they are less useful in illuminating the evolution of governmental policymaking in a single issue area over time.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Policy History , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 205 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 2006

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