In The New Politics of Public Policy, Marc Landy and Martin Levin bring together a group of leading experts to challenge the view of the Bush-Reagan era as one characterised by policy gridlock. They demonstrate that there were a surprising number of impressive policy outcomes and that many were not in the least "conservative." The number and scope of these innovations, they argue, refute the conventional wisdom that the policy process in those years was biased against change, dominated by obstructionary interests, and characterised by incrementalism. The authors examine the most important arenas of modem domestic policy reform - health, entitlements, environment, and taxation as well as the changes that have taken place in the key policy-making institutions of Congress, the executive branch, the states, and the courts. They provide in-depth investigations of the 1986 and 1990 immigration Reforrn Acts, the 1986 Tax Reform Act, Aid to Children with Special Needs, the Superfund, and the Clean Air Act.
They show how changes in Congressional structure affect the representation of interests, deliberation, and the resolution of conflict and how these effects, in turn, influence the passage of legislation. They explain how the replacement of on-budget funding by mandates requiring others to pay has made it easier to enact expensive laws and regulations. Most importantly, they demonstrate that a new politics of public policy has emerged - one characterised by a competition for novel ideas, a lowering of the legitimacy barrier regarding governmental intervention, and a broader understanding of rights.