Presidential Influence and Environmental Policy

(Hardback)

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This study examines the administrative tools and techniques that US presidents have used to influence environmental policy and legislation through the years. A major portion of the book assesses current techniques and recent administrations, particularly Reagan, Carter and Bush strategies. Experts, students, policymakers and activists concerned with public policy and environmental issues should find this study valuable for understanding the administrative procedures, the powers and the limitations of the presidency. Robert Shanley opens with a brief overview of how presidents have affected conservation policy in the first part of the century and then discusses the more complex environmental policymaking in recent administrations. Focusing on the Reagan administration, he shows how it controlled the flow of agency information and the gathering of statistical data to curb agency policy and enforcement, and then traces the reaction of Congress and the Federal Courts to these initiatives. He demonstrates how presidential executive orders may significantly affect environmental policy and then contrasts different perspectives of the Carter and Reagan Administrations on risk assessment and on various agency programmes. Shanley goes on to discuss Bush's record and his efforts to work out compromises between environmental and economic interests. Finally, Shanley posits that administrative procedures are often counter-productive in the long term. The book concludes with an overview of the resources at the disposal of presidents today and of the problems confronting national leaders in initiating and shaping environmental policy.

Reviews

The strength of the book is its empirical account of the details of administrative policy-making in the environmental area, however, rather than its modest theoretical contributions. Useful to advanced undergraduates and graduate students in public administration and policy studies.-Choice
"The strength of the book is its empirical account of the details of administrative policy-making in the environmental area, however, rather than its modest theoretical contributions. Useful to advanced undergraduates and graduate students in public administration and policy studies."-Choice

Author Bio

ROBERT A. SHANLEY is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the co-author of Busing in the Political and Judicial Process (Praeger, 1974) and has published journal articles on the presidency, public administration, community leader attitudes, and citizen participation in environmental policymaking.