The Politics of Ideas and the Spread of Enterprise Zones

Karen Mossberger

• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780878408016, 9780878408009
• eBook ISBN: 9781589014596
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book explores how policy ideas are spread—or diffused—in an age in which policymaking has become increasingly complex and specialized. Using the concept of enterprise zones as a case study in policy diffusion, Karen Mossberger compares the process of their adoption in Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts over a twelve-year period.

Enterprise zones were first proposed by the Reagan administration as a supply-side effort to reenergize inner cities, and they were eventually embraced by liberals and conservatives alike. They are a compelling example of a policy idea that spread and evolved rapidly. Mossberger describes the information networks and decisionmaking processes in the five states, assessing whether enterprise zones spread opportunistically, as a mere fad, or whether well-informed deliberation preceded their adoption.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• 1. Introduction: Diffusion and Decision Making in Five States
• 2. Decision-Making Models
• 3. Washington's Most Successful Nonprogram
• 4. Diffusion in the States: Old Wine in New Bottles?
• 5. Polydiffusion in an Intergovernmental Network
• 6. The Diffusion of a Policy Label
• 7. Informed Decision Making
• 8. A Decision-Making Continuum
• 9. Conclusion: Diffusion, Decision Making, and the Politics of Ideas
• Postscript
• Appendix 1. Methodology
• Appendix 2. Legislative Questions
• Appendix 3. Administrative Questions
• Appendix 4. Washington Interviews
• Appendix 5. Respondents
• Chapter Notes
• References
• Index