ANTICIPATORY POLICY AND MARINE RESOURCES
Anticipatory policy is premised on the need to respond to warnings about future threats and opportunities by positive political action. This paper discusses the notion of anticipatory policy by using three cases from ocean policy, deepwater ports, ocean thermal energy conversion, and deep seabed mining. Such policies tend to be extremely vulnerable to changes in the economic and political environments within which they operate. In order to understand how such policies succeed or fail requires that studies of policy implementation decades, not just several years. Although there has been a move in this direction in assessing social welfare policies, this approach has been far less evident in the natural resources area. Copyright 1986 by The Policy Studies Organization.
Mr. Reagan and the oceans
The Reagan administration has been unusually successful in shaping the direction of public policy through a dual strategy of shifts and reductions in the federal budget and the staffing of government with those loyal to Mr. Reagan and his conservative ideas. The consequences for the oceans have been a massive shift of support away from civilian to military ocean activities. In addition to this major reorientation of ocean policy, the Reagan approach has been characterized by continuing conflict between different branches and levels of government, a strong preference for symbols over substantive ocean decisions, and the absence of any long-term vision of the role the oceans might play in the nation's future.
Key Considerations for an Economic and Legal Framework Facilitating Medical Travel
Medical travel has the capacity to counter increasing costs of health care by creating new markets and increased revenue for health services, potentially benefiting local populations, economies, and health-care systems. This paper is part of a broad, comprehensive project aimed at developing a global health access policy (GHAP). It presents key issues to consider in terms of ensuring economic viability, sustainability, and limiting risk to the many stakeholders involved in the rapidly expanding industry of medical travel. The noted economic and legal barriers to medical travel are based on a synthesis of themes found in an extensive review of the available literature. Economic considerations, when setting up a GHAP, include a dynamic approach to pricing that is fair to the local population. Legal considerations include the implementation of international quality standards and the protection of the rights of those traveling as well as those of local populations in recipient countries. By taking into account these opportunities, the GHAP will more adequately address existing gaps in the economic and legal regulation of medical travel.