What Trickled Down? Federalism, State Government Fiscal Stress, and Local Government Outcomes
Much has been written about a shift in federal to state relationships during the 1990s. Couched in terms of a renewed fiscal federalism, devolution, or even the heady rhetoric of “reinventing” government both resources and public service authority flowed to the state governments. Somewhat less was said at the time regarding state governments’ relationships with local governments or the extent of federal re-distributions of resources beyond state governments to local governments. This paper is an investigation of some of the federalism transformations that occurred in the past decade or so. In particular, it assesses the flow of resources and spending at all levels of government and sorts out which show changes in relationships.
Theoretical and Practical Issues of Local Government Capacity in an Era of Devolution
The United States is in the midst of massive devolution or decentralization of domestic programs in health care, welfare, and other functions. With devolution come greatly increased responsibilities for local governments. As local governments are assuming more responsibility for policymaking, management, and implementation of important national goals, it is important to consider their capacity or ability to take on these added responsibilities. This article asks critical questions, poses problems entailed in measuring capacity, challenges the question of whether local governments have the necessary capacity to undertake new demands being placed on them, and discusses the special capacity-building needs of local governments. It may be more important for local governments to be able to obtain additional capacity to meet new challenges than for them to have the capacity in order to be ready to receive the new challenges. In a sense, it is irrelevant whether they have the capacity because the federal government with considerable public support has decided that local governments will take on more responsibility for domestic programs. The question, then, is what can be done to help them perform their expanded roles as well as possible. Information sharing, networking, removing barriers to local flexibility and creativity, and technical assistance are some of the opportunities higher-level governments and other technical assistance providers, such as universities, have for increasing the capacity of local governments.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, A Commentary
Volume VI is the sixth substantive volume to be published in the series. It deals with the work of the First Committee at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, namely the international seabed area. The volume thus embraces the deep seabed mining regime set out in Part XI of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea together with the 1994 Agreement on its implementation. Completion of this commentary was delayed first by the consultations and negotiations that commenced in 1990 and led to the 1994 Agreement and the entry into force of the Convention. It was further delayed until the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority approved the detailed mining regulations in 2000. Additional supplementary material can be found at UNCLOS 1982 Commentary: Supplementary Documents.