Public financing of private freight rail infrastructure to reduce highway congestion: A case study of public policy and decision making in the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 25-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Rowangould
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Financing ◽  
Rail Infrastructure

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Vanessa A. Edkins ◽  
Allison D. Redlich
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Current System ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Defense Attorneys

While a great deal of psycho-legal research has focused on the trial process—and the decision making of jurors and juries, in particular—trials are not reflective of the current system of justice in the United States. Instead, we find ourselves within a system of pleas (Lafler v. Cooper, 2012) with a scarcity of social science research available to guide us. With this volume, we hope to integrate the current plea bargaining research that informs the field, from charging and defendant decision making, to attorney influences, to the ramifications at the larger system and institutional levels. Spanning multiple disciplines, the research and theories related to plea bargaining have much to contribute to public policy and to changes that individual actors (e.g., defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges) may decide to incorporate in their daily interactions within our system of pleas.

A descriptive case study of effective decision-making of a local government organization in the United States of America

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-297
Author(s):  
Jennifer Capler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Effective Decision ◽  
Effective Decision Making

PurposeThis article details a qualitative descriptive case study of affective factors of effective decision-making of one local government organization in the United States of America. The specific problem was that many elected American local government representatives lack effective decision-making strategies. This research focus indicated a lack of qualitative research on the real-world experience of factors that were taken into consideration during decision-making within American local government organizations.Design/methodology/approachUsing a local government organization in southwest Illinois, elected representatives were interviewed and observed. The interviews and observations surfaced how the representatives made decisions. Data were analyzed using manual coding and theming to determine themes and patterns.FindingsThe results produced six themes about factors, including emotional intelligence, which impacted decision-making. They are: (1) remembering the past, (2) communication and respect, (3) spurring economic growth and development, (4) fairness, (5) recognizing and removing emotions and bias and (6) accountability.Research limitations/implicationsBeing a single case study, this research is limited in generalization. The research was limited to the identification of current, real-world experience of elected local government representatives.Practical implicationsThe findings of this research can be used to create more effective decision-making practices for local government organizations of similar size.Originality/valueThis is the first study to review, in-depth, the decision-making and emotional intelligence factors of local government organizations in the United States of America. The conceptual background, discussion, implications to local government organizations, limitations and recommendations for future studies are discussed.

Losing Common Ground: Feminists, Conservatives and Public Policy in Canada during the Mulroney Years

1996 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Bashevkin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
The United Kingdom

AbstractThis article examines relations between organized feminism and the federal Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, focusing on elements of the Canadian women's movement that targeted federal policy change from 1984 to 1993. In questioning the main priorities of both sides and the potential for conflict between them, the discussion uses the conceptual literature on social movement evolution as a base. It assesses formal decision making across five major policy sectors identified by Canadian feminism and presents the perspectives of movement activists on the Mulroney period. Although comparisons with policy action under the Thatcher and Reagan governments indicate a more pro-feminist record in Canada than the United Kingdom or the United States, Canadian materials suggest a narrowing of common ground between the organized women's movement and federal elites during the Mulroney years.

scholarly journals Breaching Barriers: The Fight for Indigenous Participation in Water Governance

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2113
Author(s):  
Ryan Emanuel ◽  
David Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barriers To Participation ◽  
Political Landscapes

Indigenous peoples worldwide face barriers to participation in water governance, which includes planning and permitting of infrastructure that may affect water in their territories. In the United States, the extent to which Indigenous voices are heard—let alone incorporated into decision-making—depends heavily on whether or not Native nations are recognized by the federal government. In the southeastern United States, non-federally recognized Indigenous peoples continue to occupy their homelands along rivers, floodplains, and wetlands. These peoples, and the Tribal governments that represent them, rarely enter environmental decision-making spaces as sovereign nations and experts in their own right. Nevertheless, plans to construct the Atlantic Coast Pipeline prompted non-federally recognized Tribes to demand treatment as Tribal nations during permitting. Actions by the Tribes, which are recognized by the state of North Carolina, expose barriers to participation in environmental governance faced by Indigenous peoples throughout the United States, and particularly daunting challenges faced by state-recognized Tribes. After reviewing the legal and political landscapes that Native nations in the United States must navigate, we present a case study focused on Atlantic Coast Pipeline planning and permitting. We deliberately center Native voices and perspectives, often overlooked in non-Indigenous narratives, to emphasize Indigenous actions and illuminate participatory barriers. Although the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was cancelled in 2020, the case study reveals four enduring barriers to Tribal participation: adherence to minimum standards, power asymmetries, procedural narrowing, and “color-blind” planning. We conclude by highlighting opportunities for federal and state governments, developers, and Indigenous peoples to breach these barriers.

Business as Usual? Bail Decision Making and “Micro Politics” in an Australian Magistrates Court

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (02) ◽  
pp. 325-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Travers
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
The United States ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Problem Solving Courts ◽  
Business As Usual

Between the 1970s and 1990s, political scientists in the United States pursued a distinctive research program that employed ethnographic methods to study micro politics in criminal courts. This article considers the relevance of this concept for court researchers today through a case study about bail decision making in a lower criminal court in Australia. It describes business as usual in how decisions are made and the provision of pretrial services. It also looks at how traditionalists and reformers understood business as usual, and uses this as a critical concept to make visible micro politics in this court. The case study raises issues about organizational change in criminal courts since the 1990s, since there are fewer studies about plea bargaining and more about specialist or problem-solving courts. It is suggested that we need a new international agenda that can address change and continuity in criminal courts.

Diversifying Methodologies: A Haudenosaunee/Settler Approach for Measuring Indigenous-Local Intergovernmental Success

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Alcantara ◽  
Ian Kalman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluations ◽  
The City ◽  
Partial Success

AbstractIntergovernmental agreements between municipal and Indigenous governments are rapidly expanding in number and importance in Canada and the United States, yet they remain underexamined in the literature. This article considers how to measure the success of these agreements. It takes as a case study the port divestiture agreement between the City of Cornwall (Ontario, Canada), and a neighbouring Indigenous government, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. While the agreement represents a partial success and partial failure by conventional public policy and public administration metrics, these evaluations are different when measured against the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) principle of “one-mindedness.” Findings, which were generated using anthropological and qualitative political science methods, suggest that the use of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous frameworks are required to produce accurate and comprehensive evaluations of these agreements and the outcomes that are produced by them.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Upends Pandemic Plan

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 467-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kirlin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Basic Question ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Influenza Pandemics ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Policies And Procedures

COVID-19 quickly spread worldwide, with over 113,000 deaths in the United States by June 2020. Governments at all levels in this nation responded. This analysis starts with a basic question: How did prior planning for pandemics shape responses? A second question emerges: why were data systems inadequate? Expectations, policies, and procedures focused on addressing influenza pandemics shaped responses to COVID-19. Crippled by inadequate data, federal experts did not fully understand likely impacts of COVID-19 until early March. Planned public health processes were overwhelmed by a surge in infections and deaths. Decision making planned to be responses by experts moved to elected officials. Needed data were provided by sources outside government. Governors in 42 states issued stay-at-home orders, causing severe dislocations in the economy and society at a scale never experienced before as the result of deliberate public policy choices. Possible improvements for the future are discussed.

Gaming Arizona: Public Money and Shifting Candidate Strategies

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (03) ◽  
pp. 527-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Miller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
Public Financing ◽  
Public Money

Since public election financing was first implemented during the wave of post-Watergate reforms, the burning question has been, “does it work?” Evaluations of public financing have focused on its primary objectives, which are designed to address familiar grievances: Elections are too expensive and not competitive enough. Corporate PACs and other “special interests” contribute disproportionately to incumbents because they are interested in purchasing influence. Candidates must devote so much time to fundraising that little is left for other campaign tasks. Lost in these considerations, however, is the fact that mandated financial parity changes the strategic environment candidates function in, altering their decision making and potentially changing the nature of elections. As fully subsidized elections gain increasing ubiquity in the United States, reformers must decide whether this is a cost worth bearing.

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