Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pandemics And Partisanship: Following Old Paths Into Uncharted Territory, Luke Fowler, Jaclyn J. Kettler, Stephanie L. Witt

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although partisan politics tend be set aside during crisis, the timing of gubernatorial actions in response to COVID-19 is telling about how partisanship is shaping the way elected officials are reacting to this pandemic. Using an event history analysis, the authors find that Democratic governors responded to the White House’s attempts to downplay the severity of the pandemic by declaring emergencies in order to draw citizen attention to and to prepare for a public health crisis. On the other hand, Republican governors resisted doing so until Trump declared a national emergency on March 13; however, Republican reactions were conditional on …

Democratic Governors Are Quicker In Responding To The Coronavirus Than Republicans, Luke Fowler, Jaclyn Kettler, Stephanie Witt

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

While the coronavirus pandemic is a national and international concern, state and local officials find themselves on the front lines of the public health battle.

Governors, in particular, have been in the spotlight in recent weeks. New York’s Andrew Cuomo has been praised by news outlets for his leadership at the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, while others have been criticized for slow responses.

A clear partisan gap has emerged in how quickly governors have declared emergencies and issue stay-at-home orders. Democratic governors have issued orders three to four days sooner than Republican governors, on average.

Creating Accountability With Interstate Cooperation: Unauthorized Water Use Enforcement On The Klamath River, Luke Fowler, Isaac Castellano

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

While lacking coercive power to compel enforcement, interstate compacts create accountability through multiple sources and layers connecting enforcement behavior to oversight. Using logistic regression, we test a model of accountability and enforcement of unauthorized water usage on the Klamath River. Findings indicate unauthorized water usage is far more likely to be reported and enforced on the Klamath River than on neighboring rivers in the same counties. Conclusions indicate the increased institutional layers of interstate compacts lead to more accountability and stringent enforcement and reporting of unauthorized water use.

Bridges And Barriers: The Lake Superior Borderlands, Leslie R. Alm, Ross E. Burkhart

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper investigates the Canada–US borderlands relationship along the two geographic corridors as bounded by Lake Superior: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario–Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Thunder Bay, Ontario–Duluth, Minnesota. Borderland communities—driven by their shared cultural characteristics (ethnicity, language,religion)—are said to challenge the border as a dividing device and undermine the very essence of international borders. Moreover, borderlands regions are dynamic and overlapping, providing the first point of contact and interaction between nations. Our results depict inherent differences between these particular border regions, with each illustrating characteristics that both connect and divide. Despite the passage of time and both countries’ determined …