American Politics & Public Policy Workshop: Matt Grossman, Michigan State University

Matt Grossman

Department of Political Science, Michigan State University

"Artists of the Possible: Government Networks, Macro Politics, and American Policy Change Since 1945"

Two chapters from this book manuscript are available for advance reading by special request to pamela.greene@yale.edu.
Chapter 3: "Does the Issue Agenda Matter?" and Chapter 4: "The Long Great Society"

SYNOPSIS:
I will be discussing two chapters from my book manuscript titled "Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy Change Since 1945."  The talk offers a new view of the American policy process, focusing on networks of actors responsible for domestic policy change since 1945.  I use narrative policy histories in 14 issue areas to track important policy enactments, catalog the circumstances associated with them, and identify the actors responsible for them. I argue that the amount, issue content, and ideological direction of policy all depend on the joint actions of policy entrepreneurs.

I show that measures of the public and government agenda are not reliable guides to the content of new policy in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches. Policy change instead results from successful negotiations among presidents, legislators, and interest group leaders. Public opinion, focusing events, and media coverage play only secondary roles.

A single period from 1961-1976 is the most important determinant of changes in the productivity and policy direction of all three branches since 1945. Changes in public opinion, partisan control, and lawmaker ideology fail to predict the amount or ideological direction of policy change. Instead, a large and diverse cross-issue governing network enabled extensive liberal policymaking in one extended era.