The Promise and Perils of Decentralized Governance: Case Studies of Welfare State Restructuring

• In Event: Neoliberalism, Austerity, and State Retrenchment.

Abstract

Federalism is a central institutional feature of the U.S. system of government, and research has shown significant ways decentralization has contributed to the production of inequality. On the other hand, scholars have paid insufficient attention to how decentralization has been or might be employed toward progressive policy ends despite growing interest in this question within political discourse. This paper examines how decentralization shaped the ability of liberal policymakers at the state level to achieve more protective welfare system restructuring between the 1970s and 1990s, showing how these political actors deployed the various facets of federalism to meet their objectives and the complex outcomes of these decisions. Rather than conceptualize federalism as “the rules of the game,” case studies of California and Wisconsin suggest decentralization is better understood as a tool that can be wielded to meet both conservative and progressive policy goals. The case studies also suggest weak party coordination in the contemporary period has prevented the political left in the U.S. from using decentralization to achieve their policy goals, in sharp contrast to the political right.

Author

• Carmen Marie Brick, University of California-Berkeley