|
Showing 1 - 6 of
6 matches in All Departments
The landslide reelection of President Ronald Reagan in 1984
prompted political analysts to consider the possibility of a
national realignment of the electorate toward the Republican party.
The 1986 elections, however, proved any predictions of a national
realignment to be premature. A major shift in voting patterns had
not taken place-except in the Mountain West, where a realignment
was already in place. Once second only to the southern states in
Democratic attachments, these western states (Arizona, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) now compose
the most Republican region in the nation. The contributors to this
volume assert that this substantial change in electoral patterns,
which has spanned nearly forty years, resulted not from a westward
migration but from a widespread conversion among those who are born
and remain in the region. In analyzing this realignment, these
writers-some of the nation's best electoral scholars-provide
historical and contemporary overviews and assess the important
issues not only for voters but also for party organizations and
members of Congress. Their focus in The Politics of Realignment,
however, is on the Mountain West's role in contemporary American
politics. The authors present a comprehensive investigation into
the meaning of this regional realignment for national politics.
Renewable and carbon-neutral energy have been promoted as the
future of energy production in the United States. Non-traditional
energy sources show promise as alternatives to fossil fuels and may
provide a sustainable source of energy in increasingly uncertain
energy markets. However, these new sources of energy face their own
set of political, administrative, and legal challenges. Green vs.
Green explores how mixed land ownership and existing law and
regulation present serious challenges to the development of
alternative energy sources in the United States. Analytically
examining and comparing five green energy sectors; wind, solar,
geothermal, biofuel and hydro power, Ryan M. Yonk, Randy T.
Simmons, and Brian C. Steed argue that discussing alternative
energy without understanding these pitfalls creates unrealistic
expectations regarding the ability to substitute "green" energy for
traditional sources. The micro-goals of protecting individual
areas, species, small-scale ecosystems, and other local
environmental aims often limits ability to achieve macro-goals like
preventing global climate change or transitioning to large-scale
green energy production. Statutes and regulations designed to
protect environmental and cultural integrity from degradation
directly conflict with other stated environmental ends. Although
there is substantial interest in adding clean energy to the grid,
it appears that localized environmental interests interfere with
broader environmental policy goals and the application of existing
environmental laws and regulations may push us closer to gridlock.
Green vs. Green provides a fascinating look into how existing
environmental law created or will create substantial regulatory
hurdles for future energy generations.
The landslide reelection of President Ronald Reagan in 1984
prompted political analysts to consider the possibility of a
national realignment of the electorate toward the Republican party.
The 1986 elections, however, proved any predictions of a national
realignment to be premature. A major shift in voting patterns had
not taken place-except in the Mountain West, where a realignment
was already in place. Once second only to the southern states in
Democratic attachments, these western states (Arizona, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) now compose
the most Republican region in the nation. The contributors to this
volume assert that this substantial change in electoral patterns,
which has spanned nearly forty years, resulted not from a westward
migration but from a widespread conversion among those who are born
and remain in the region. In analyzing this realignment, these
writers-some of the nation's best electoral scholars-provide
historical and contemporary overviews and assess the important
issues not only for voters but also for party organizations and
members of Congress. Their focus in The Politics of Realignment,
however, is on the Mountain West's role in contemporary American
politics. The authors present a comprehensive investigation into
the meaning of this regional realignment for national politics.
Renewable and carbon-neutral energy have been promoted as the
future of energy production in the United States. Non-traditional
energy sources show promise as alternatives to fossil fuels and may
provide a sustainable source of energy in increasingly uncertain
energy markets. However, these new sources of energy face their own
set of political, administrative, and legal challenges. Green vs.
Green explores how mixed land ownership and existing law and
regulation present serious challenges to the development of
alternative energy sources in the United States. Analytically
examining and comparing five green energy sectors; wind, solar,
geothermal, biofuel and hydro power, Ryan M. Yonk, Randy T.
Simmons, and Brian C. Steed argue that discussing alternative
energy without understanding these pitfalls creates unrealistic
expectations regarding the ability to substitute "green" energy for
traditional sources. The micro-goals of protecting individual
areas, species, small-scale ecosystems, and other local
environmental aims often limits ability to achieve macro-goals like
preventing global climate change or transitioning to large-scale
green energy production. Statutes and regulations designed to
protect environmental and cultural integrity from degradation
directly conflict with other stated environmental ends. Although
there is substantial interest in adding clean energy to the grid,
it appears that localized environmental interests interfere with
broader environmental policy goals and the application of existing
environmental laws and regulations may push us closer to gridlock.
Green vs. Green provides a fascinating look into how existing
environmental law created or will create substantial regulatory
hurdles for future energy generations.
What if what we think we know about ecology and environmental
policy is just wrong? What if environmental laws often make things
worse? What if the very idea of nature has been hijacked by
politics? What if wilderness is something we create in our minds,
as opposed to being an actual description of nature? Developing
answers to these questions and developing implications of those
answers are our purposes in this book. Two themes guide
us-political ecology and political entrepreneurship. Combining
these two concepts, which we develop in some detail, leads us to
recognize that sometimes in their original design and certainly in
their implementation, major U.S. environmental laws are more about
opportunism and ideology than good management and environmental
improvement.
Providing students of economics, politics, and policy with a
concise explanation of public choice, markets, property, and
political and economic processes, this record identifies what kinds
of actions are beyond the ability of government. Combining public
choice with studies of the value of property rights, markets, and
institutions, this account produces a much different picture of
modern political economy than the one accepted by mainstream
political scientists and welfare economists. It demonstrates that
when citizens request that their governments do more than it is
possible, net benefits are reduced, costs are increased, and wealth
and freedom are diminished. Solutions are also suggested with the
goal to improve the lot of those who should be the ultimate
sovereigns in a democracy: the citizens.
|
|