David R. Morgan - Böcker

Unlike other works in the field, Intergovernmental Relations and Public Policy deals with all levels of intergovernmental relations in the United States. Following an introductory section on the intergovernmental setting of public-policy, the book explores federal-state, state-local, and federal-state-local relations. There are discussions of health and safety, natural resources and environmental regulatory policy, federal aid programs, state small community development programs, and many other areas of current concern. Each of the fifteen chapters examines a significant development in contemporary intergovernmental relations, and the authors attempt to focus on the interactions of governmental units, which have a direct effect on the making, implementation, and impact of public policy.

Oklahoma is a plains state exemplifying the Middle American virtues of family, lodge, and church; a southern state in the path of the power shift from the indus-trial East to the energy-rich sunbelt; a western state of modern cowboys and rodeos. Small wonder its political culture is so varied. The authors of Oklahoma Politics and Policies contend that Oklahoma is a paradox—a state struggling for a clear sense of identity where the old and new vie for the allegiance of its citizens. David R. Morgan, Robert E. England, and George O. Humphreys examine the history of Oklahoma and the place of Native Americans in this former Indian Territory; the state's links to the federal government; its executive, legislative, and judicial systems; political parties and interest groups; local government; and the current policy issues that confront its citizens. They assess the attempts of Oklahomans to revive their economy. The 1990s will be bright, the authors sug-gest, if Oklahomans can put aside internal conflicts and the politics of negativism in approaching economic and social problems more pragmatically.