Perpetuating the Pork Barrel: Policy Subsystems and American DemocracyCambridge University Press, 1997 M08 13 - 250 pages This book details the policy subsystems - links among members of Congress, interest groups, program beneficiaries, and federal and subnational government agencies - that blanket the American political landscape. Robert Stein and Kenneth Bickers have constructed a new data-base detailing federal outlays to congressional districts for each federal program, and use it to examine four myths about the impact of policy subsystems on American government and democratic practice. These include the myth that policy subsystems are a major contributor to the federal deficit; that, once created, federal programs grow inexorably and rarely die; that, to garner support for their programs, subsystem actors seek to universalize the geographic scope of program benefits; and that the flow of program benefits to constituencies in congressional districts ensures the reelection of legislators. |
Contents
Policy subsystems and the pork barrel | 3 |
PART II | 13 |
The programmatic expansion of US domestic spending | 15 |
The geographic scope of domestic spending A test of the universalism thesis | 30 |
PART III | 45 |
A portfolio theory of policy subsystems | 47 |
Policy subsystem adaptability and resilience in the Reagan period | 70 |
PAC contributions and the distribution of domestic assistance programs | 90 |
Programs by agency and policy type | 161 |
Departments and their distributive policy agencies | 187 |
Federal agencies in four cabinet departments Budgetary changes proposed by the Reagan administration for FY 1983 | 190 |
Financial assistance programs by public law bundle | 193 |
PACs whose parent interest groups testified in hearings grouped by public law and PAC coalition | 196 |
Roll call votes in the US House of Representatives on nine public laws | 201 |
Probit results for House roll call votes on nine public laws | 208 |
Concepts and measures | 212 |
Congressional elections and the pork barrel | 118 |
PART IV | 137 |
Policy subsystems in practice and democratic theory | 139 |
Descriptive data base of domestic assistance programs | 153 |
Geographical data base of domestic assistance awards | 157 |
Notes | 215 |
219 | |
227 | |
Other editions - View all
Perpetuating the Pork Barrel: Policy Subsystems and American Democracy Robert M. Stein,Kenneth N. Bickers No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
100th Congress 101st Congress 98th Congress activities agency's Agricultural allocated American Appendix appropriations average budget budgetary campaign contributions campaign finance reform campaign spending catalog Chapter collective action problems concentrated costs Conflictual Yes consensual constituents costs or benefits dependent variable discretionary distributive benefits distributive programs district coverage domestic assistance programs domestic programs domestic spending Education electoral connection electoral margins FAADS Federal Domestic funds grams grant awards House members impact incentive increase incumbent individual programs interest groups legislature line-item veto measure members of Congress moneys Narrow National nonthreatened agencies number of congressional Number of observations number of programs outlays PAC cluster PAC coalition PAC contributions particularized benefits percent policy subsystems Political Action Committee pork barrel portfolio of programs probit program benefits program portfolios programmatic projects proposed public law Reauthorization redistributive reelection reform regression estimates relationship roll call votes strategies subsystem actors Superfund threatened agencies tion universalism voters vulnerable