We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Fighting "Big Government": Frames, Federalism, and Social Policy Reform in the United States.
- Authors
Béland, Daniel; Vergniolle de Chantal, François
- Abstract
In recent decades, historical institutionalism has contributed to the political and sociological analysis of public policy. While drawing on this fruitful theoretical approach, this article argues that institutionalist scholars should pay more attention to the specific ways in which ideas impact policy processes. In order to underline the role of ideas in policy-making, this article examines the interaction between frames, federalism, and political strategies in the United States, a country in which recent attempts to decentralize social policy have been especially spectacular and ideologically-driven. Two key pieces of legislation enacted during the Clinton presidency are examined: the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and, more importantly, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Starting with the fact that US conservatives have monopolized the issue of decentralisation in their struggle against federal social programmes, this article shows that attempts to create a New Federalism in the field of social policy have failed. Moreover, it demonstrates that the critique of centralization rooted in a well-established ideological repertoire is politically relevant only to the extent that there is a budgetary rationale justifying it. When it comes to conservative social issues like "family values" and "personal responsibility," this critique loses much of its political appeal and "moral centralization" prevails.
- Subjects
UNITED States; PUBLIC welfare; SOCIAL policy; POLICY sciences; PUBLIC interest; WELFARE economics
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Sociology, 2004, Vol 29, Issue 2, p241
- ISSN
0318-6431
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/3654695