2007 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

46-202 INFORMAL ROUNDTABLE: PROCUREMENT
AND CONTRACTS
Room State, 4 th Floor, Table 3, Sat at 12:45 pm
Presenter Public Procurement as a Policy Tool in America
Donna T. McCarthy, National Institute of Governmental
Purchasing
Overview: Can procurement be used as a tool in which public
policy can be facilitated? This presentation will focus on the areas
in which acquisition policy is helping shape economic
development, sustainability, and equal access in the contracting
process.
Presenter Agency Power and Adaptation: Implementation of
Competitive Sourcing
Maria Ernita T. Joaquin, Northern Illinois University
Overview: Theories of organizational adaptation and bureau
power intersect in this study OMB Circular A-76 implementation,
uncovering new themes on power, leadership, and congressional
influences on bureaucratic response in the era of third-party
governance.
49-7 SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL
POLITICS
Room Clark 3, 7 th Floor, Sat at 12:45 pm
Chair Paul A. Sabatier, University of California, Davis
Paper Changing Expectations of Science and Scientists in
Environmental Policy
Brent S. Steel, Oregon State University
Denise Lach, Oregon State University
Overview: This study examines support for and determinants of
involving science and scientists in the environmental process from
the perspective of various stakeholder groups.
Paper Scientists in the Policy Process: Hired Guns or Truth Tellers?
Carol L. Silva, Texas A&M University
Overview: This paper examines how perceptions of technological
risk are influenced by gender and scientific training, and looks at
the breadth of these effects by comparing perspectives on risk
among scientists in the U.S. and in EU member nations.
Paper Conserving Biodiversity in a Changing Climate: The Role of
Science in Policy Formation
Kelly Levin, Yale University
Overview: Climate change is severely impacting biodiversity with
long-term implications for conservation and management. While
biologists, park managers, and conservation organizations have
performed extensive research on climate impacts to biodiversity.
Paper Framing Elite Policy Discourse: Epistemic Communities and
Regulation of POPs
Jessica Templeton, London School of Economics and Political
Science
Overview: Using global regulation of persistent organic pollutants
as a case study, this paper analyzes the use of strategic issue
framing tactics by epistemic communities of scientists seeking to
bring about their preferred policy outcomes.
Paper Are Scientists Political Players? Scientists in Four
Environmental Policy Conflicts
Christopher Weible, Georgia Institute of Technology
Overview: What are the roles of scientists in environmental policy
conflicts? This paper responds to this question using a mix of
cross sectional and longitudinal mail-in questionnaire data
spanning from 1990 to 2002 across four policy subsystems.
Disc. John A. Hird, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
50-10 MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
Room PDR 7, 3 rd Floor, Sat at 12:45 pm
Chair Rhys Andrews, Cardiff University
Paper Administration of Public Programs in Rural Places
Shelly Arsneault, California State University, Fullerton
Kari Adams, California State University, Fullerton
Overview: The findings suggest several hypotheses for public
administration in rural communities, particularly in light of
resource constraints that face administrators such as limited
financial resources, staff training, expertise, and service
availability.
Paper Local Government Budgeting: Has It Kept Up With
Technology?
E. L. Bernick, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Overview: This study looks at the extent to which budget "best
practices" are presented by county governments on their web sites.
Paper Local Government Performance Measurement Adoption:
Transaction Cost Analysis
Hee Soun Jang, California State University, Fullerton
Myungjung Kwon, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Overview: This study claims that performance adoption
innovations in municipal governments should consider public
management factors related to institution and bureaucracy as well
as political and socioeconomic characteristics.
Paper Comprehensive Planning in Municipal Government: Is it
Worth the Hassle?
Kimberly L. Nelson, Northern Illinois University
Angela S. Shimkus, Southern Illinois University
Overview: This research examines the value of comprehensive
planning as determined by its use in Illinois municipal
governments. Special attention is given to the overall usefulness of
the practice related to its costs, both tangible and intangible.
Disc. Rhys Andrews, Cardiff University
50-18 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND REGULATION
IN A FEDERAL CONTEXT
Room Suite 9-128, 9 th Floor, Sat at 12:45 pm
Chair Frank T. Manheim, George Mason University
Paper The Flow of Environmental Funds
Andrew B. Whitford, University of Georgia
Benjamin Y. Clark, University of Georgia
Overview: This essay quantitatively investigates the demand side
for federal grants-in-aid to the states.
Paper High Capacity State and Flexible Policy Solutions: Does
Centralization Always Result in Coercion?
Lada K. Dunbar, University of Michigan, Dearborn
Overview: This paper analyzes the role of a national centralized
policy authority in the introduction of policy innovations.
Paper Cooptation, Capacity Building, and Channeling: Government
Funding on NGOs
Chang Bum Ju, University of Southern California
Overview: This study tests competing theses regarding the
patterns and impact of government funding on nonprofit
organizations: cooptation, capacity building and channeling. They
are conceptualized in terms of resource centralization and agency
autonomy.
Paper Bureaucratic Discretion and Legislative Control: State
Brownfield Programs
Susan M. Opp, University of Louisville
Overview: Drawing upon bureaucratic discretion and political
control of the bureaucracy theories this paper examines state
brownfield program creation, implementation, and administration.
Disc. Frank T. Manheim, George Mason University
Brian Kisida, University of Arkansas
51-10 CIVIL RIGHTS: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Room PDR 8, 3 rd Floor, Sat at 12:45 pm
Chair Joseph E. Luders, Yeshiva University
Paper Inmate Racial Segregation: Towards Racial Social-Political
Strata
Alejandro Garcia, University of California, Los Angeles
Overview: Research on racial segregation fails to examine the
context of inmate racial segregation in U.S. prisons and its
relationship to the state; and instead has focused on the prison subculture.
Paper The Politics of Anger: Southern Strategy and Rise of Negative
Campaigning
Lilly J. Goren, Carroll College
Overview: This paper explores the connection between the rise of
negative campaigning, the evolution of the Southern strategy and
the angry American electorate. Long term impact and the
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