Sheldon Kamieniecki

Forming Partnerships in Environmental Policy The Business of Emissions Trading in Clean Air Management

This article analyzes whether the move from direct government regulatory control of air pollution to the adoption of the Los Angeles RECLAIM (Regional Clean Air Incentives Market) emissions trading system, a more private form of air quality management, has indeed resulted in greater effectiveness and efficiency in an equitable and democratic manner as promised. The study begins with a brief description of RECLAIM and federal SO 2 emissions trading programs. The study then analyzes the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency in policy implementation and addresses whether the RECLAIM emissions trading scheme has been, as promised, effective and efficient. This is followed by an investigation of whether the RECLAIM system is equitable and democratic, both of which are concerns of those who are opposed to the adoption of emissions trading. Evidence from the SO 2 emissions trading program is also introduced at certain points in the analysis. The implications of the studys findings are reviewed at the end of the article.

The dimensionality of partisan strength and political independence

This study explores the dimensionality of partisan strength and independence by analyzing the relationships between the traditional four-point partisan strength scale, a strength of independence scale, and other relevant variables in the 1980 and 1984 NES/CPS election studies. In particular, the investigation centers on the possible different explanations for independence. The findings tend to support explanations for independence that concern party attachment and civic responsibility. The data show that partisan strength and independence are separate components of party identification. Previous findings based on the use of the traditional partisan strength scale may therefore need to be reconsidered.

Are social class measures interchangeable

This study analyzes the internal and external consistency of standard and alternative measures of stratification position. Researchers and theorists have used a number of concepts to describe individuals position within the stratification system, e.g., level of education, occupational prestige, and Marxist class position. The central issues of this paper are the degree to which each of the operationalizations of these concepts (current in the literature) are related to one another, the degree to which the operationalizations of each concept are related to the operationalizations of other concepts that measure stratification position, and the extent to which these operational measures are “interchangeable.” Using data collected in the SRC/CPS 1980 American National Election Study, we find the strongest relationships to exist among those indicators which measure the same concept (e.g., the NORC Prestige Scale and the Duncan SEI), although all indicators are positively related. Regression analyses employing different criterion variables as dependent variables and several measures of stratification position as independent variables reveal that these measures are not “interchangeable.”

A social impact assessment of the nuclear fuel services facility at west valley, New York

This paper sets forth a research methodology to evaluate the social impact of projects on people. The data and measurement techniques are drawn from a preliminary social impact assessment of the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in West Valley, New York. In addition to collecting socio-economic and demographic information on the region, a survey of West Valley area residents was conducted. Respondents were questioned about their level of awareness of the issues surrounding the plant, their knowledge about the issue sphere, the nature and level of awareness of the issues surrounding the plant, their knowledge about the issue sphere, the nature and level of their concern regarding the facility, and proposed policies to deal with the plant. A major finding is that residents living in the region are apprehensive about the health dangers that can result from radioactive contamination of the environment, and favor removal of the plant and restoration of the area. How the results of our study were incorporated into...

Municipal Advisory Councils in California

Recently, there has been a demand at the grass roots level for more meaningful public involvement in local government policy making. This is part of a more general trend toward increased citizen participation in public administration. As Morrow points out, &dquo;contemporary politics has been marked by a revolution seeking more direct participation by citizens in policy making&dquo; (Morrow, 1980: 269). A fundamental thrust of this movement has been to encourage the involvement of those sectors of our society that traditionally have been excluded, for whatever reasons, from the local decision-making process. California has developed a program whose aim is to encourage citizen participation in county government policy making. This program, started in 1967 in