Dubnick, Mel. “[Review of] Promise and Performance: Choosing and Implementing Environmental Policy,” American Political Science Review, 75, no. 2 (June, 1981): 500-501.
AI_Generated Summary:
Challenges in Implementing Environmental Policy
- The EPA’s Clean Air Act of 1970 aimed to unify environmental efforts through organizational and legal reforms.
- The policy faced failure due to conflicting objectives between Congress and environmentalists, and internal agency disagreements.
- Marcus criticizes the agency’s inability to satisfy diverse stakeholders, leading to ineffective pollution control efforts.
- The study highlights the importance of clear, consistent policy goals and the difficulties in balancing multiple interests.
Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident and Government Response
- The book provides a detailed, gripping account of the Three Mile Island crisis in 1979.
- It reveals the federal agencies’ failure to process information effectively, worsening the crisis.
- The narrative underscores the lack of communication, misinterpretation, and misinformation among government actors.
- The incident exemplifies the risks of over-concentrating power and neglecting the “nervous system” of government operations.