Although drawing on this implementation literature, this chapter takes a
more traditional approach to policy implementation and opens with a survey
of some of the players in policy implementation. It then narrows its focus to
adfninistrative agencies. Administrative organization, the political context,
policymaking patterns, and implementation techniques are taken up in order.
Along with financial resources (dealt with in the chapter titled Budgeting and
public Policy"), these can be viewed as independent variables that affect policy
outcomes and implementation success. The concluding section on compliance
with policy looks at the responses of those benefited or regulated. The goal of
this chapter is to provide readers with a working knowledge of the politics and
processes of policy implementation and to furnish some tools for their analy-
sis. Figure 6.1 provides a simplified look at the implementation process.
Federalism and Implementation
' Federalism frequently complicates the implementation of national
policies. Although various policies—Social Security, commercial airline safety,
bank-deposit insurance—are handled solely by national officials, many national
policies depend significantly upon state and local governments for grass-roots
or street-level support and implementation. This holds true for many national
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policies on education (both lower and higher), environmental protection, high-
ways, social welfare, and law enforcement.8 In such areas Congress has been
either reluctant or unable (as in the instance of public education) to bypass the
states when it makes policy. Moreover, Congress has found that it can shift
many of the costs of national programs to states and localities.
National legislation and agencies may provide policy goals, perfonnance stan-
dards, technical assistance, financial support, and more, but much of the day-to-
day administrative action necessary to apply policies to the target populations
must come from the states. In most states, for example, the Environmental
Protection Agency has delegated enforcement of its air- and water-quality stan-
dards to state enidronmental agencies. This creates a bilevel implementation situ-
ation: macro-implementation and micro-implementation? At the macro level,
national officials must act to secure effective action by state officials. Then, at the
micro level, state officials must gain compliance from the target populations.
Macrcemicro implementation increases the likelihood of slippage,
The Clinton administration devised the National Environmental Performance
Partnership System (NEPPS) to give the states more flexibility in managing
federal environmental programs if they show innovation and better performance