2018 PATIMES Columns by Benjamin Deitchman

Public Administration in The Good Place

Public administration has a role in the afterlife — at least on the critically-acclaimed network comedy The Good Place.…

October 26, 2018Read More

Social Media as a Social Good

Post on Facebook, “The Facebook is excellent.” Tweet, “Twitter is great.” Caption an Instagram photograph, “I love Instagram.” See how few likes, favorites or otherwise positive reactions appear compared to…

July 27, 2018Read More

Touch-a-Truck: A Tactile Introduction to the Public Service

Touch-a-truck activities also offer a model of how government can and does serve the citizenry. Popular culture presents to children an idealized version of the work of police officers, firefighters…

April 27, 2018Read More

World Cup Soccer and Policymaking: Strategies for Success

Winning the World Cup, or merely qualifying, as the United States failed to do for this summer’s competition, requires tactics and principles that can provide lessons for successful policymaking and…

January 25, 2018Read More

Reviews of Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications

Publius: The Journal of Federalism:

Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications, by Benjamin H. Deitchman
Political Opportunities for Climate Policy: California, New York, and the Federal Government, by Roger Karapin

Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications

Barry G Rabe

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Volume 48, Issue 4, 1 September 2018, Pages e6,https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjy027

This context makes the publication of a pair of books written prior to the 2016 election all the more important. These complementary contributions by Benjamin Deitchman and Roger Karapin provide valuable insights into state climate policy and combine to offer a solid foundation to understand what has transpired to date and where we might head next. Both make clear that states have enormous roles to play in influencing greenhouse gas emissions, whether or not their policies are expressly aimed at climate considerations. Both volumes consider a broad set of policies that can curb carbon dioxide or related greenhouse gas releases. Karapin divides these policies between those that are “explicit” in their climate focus such as carbon cap-and-trade or are “implicit” such as renewable energy mandates that may be focused primarily on energy policy or economic development while also addressing climate.

The American Review of Public Administration:

Book Review: 

Climate and Clean Energy Policy: 

State Institutions and Economic Implications

Sanya Carley, Michelle Graff,

First Published November 16, 2017 Book Review https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074017741541

In Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications, Benjamin Deitchman presents a current snapshot of U.S. energy and climate policy, in which he features prominently the role of state leadership, as well as the policy instruments designed by states, and the manner in which politics and federalism have shaped the policy process. In an ambitious undertaking to describe the intricacies of modern U.S. energy and climate policy, Deitchman highlights many of the important trends and debates that have arisen within this realm over the past 20 or so years.

"Intergovernmental Relations in Transition Reflections and Directions" On Sale Now

https://www.routledge.com/Intergovernmental-Relations-in-Transition-Reflections-and-Directions/Stenberg-Hamilton/p/book/9780815396437

Table of Contents

1. Intergovernmental Relations in Transition

[David K. Hamilton and Carl W. Stenberg]

Part 1. Phases of IGR Revisited

2. Intergovernmental Relations in the Early 21st Century: Lingering Images of Earlier Phases or Emergence of a New Phase?

[J. Edwin Benton]

3. Why Coercion and Cooperation Coexist in American Federalism

[John Kincaid]

4. Why We Fight: Conflict and "Coping" in 21st Century Intergovernmental Relations

[Brendan F. Burke and Jeffrey L. Brudney]

Part 2. Fiscal and Institutional Issues

5. Scarcity and the Federal System

[Paul L. Posner]

6. Putting the "R" Back in IGR: The Great Recession and Intergovernmental "Relationships"

[Bruce J. Perlman, Michael J. Scicchitano, and Yahong Zhang]

Part 3. Intergovernmental Management Cases

7. Partisan Polarization, Administrative Capacity, and State Discretion in the Affordable Care Act

[Dale Krane and Shihyun Noh]

8. The Diffusion of Federal Regulation through Contracts: The Case of Food Safety Policy

[Jocelyn M. Johnston and Rebecca Yurman]

9. Clean Energy and Growth through State and Local Implementation

[Benjamin H. Deitchman]

10. Bottom-up Federalism: An Examination of U.S. Local Governments’ Climate Change Policy

[Benoy Jacob, Brian Gerber, and Sam Gallaher]

Part 4. Laboratories of Democracy at Work

11. The Legislative Transformation of State-Local Relations

[Ann O’M. Bowman and Richard C. Kearney]

12. Pulling the Lever: The States’ Role in Catalyzing Local Change

[Ricardo S. Morse and Carl W. Stenberg]

13. Professional Development Applied Projects: State-Level Laboratories of Democracy

[Susan Paddock]

Part 5. Reflections from the Trenches

14. The Unraveling of the Intergovernmental System: A Practitioner’s Observations

[Donald Borut]

15. American Federalism Without a System of Intergovernmental Relations

[Parris N. Glendening]

16. Back to the Future?

[Carl W. Stenberg and David K. Hamilton]

"Intergovernmental Relations in Transition: Reflections and Directions" available for pre-order!

Chapter 9 "Clean Energy and Growth through State and Local Implementation" by Benjamin Deitchman

https://www.routledge.com/Intergovernmental-Relations-in-Transition-Reflections-and-Directions/Stenberg-Hamilton/p/book/9780815396437

Intergovernmental Relations in Transition

Reflections and Directions

Edited by Carl W. Stenberg, David K. Hamilton

© 2018 – Routledge

368 pages | 11 B/W Illus.

The field of intergovernmental relations has changed substantially in the past two decades, and it holds a critical and evolving role in the US federal system as well as in public policy and management. Building upon the legacy of Deil S. Wright’s scholarship, this collection of essays by distinguished scholars, emerging thought leaders, and experienced practitioners chronicles and analyzes some of the tensions and pressures that have contributed to the current state of intergovernmental relations.

Although rarely commanding media attention by name, intergovernmental relations are being elevated in the public discourse through policy issues dominating headlines and addressed in this book, including health insurance exchanges under the now-threatened Affordable Care Act, the roles of the federal, state, and local governments in K-12 education, recent controversies over campus sexual assaults, state legalization of medical and recreational marijuana use, and civil unrest over police killings of African-Americans bringing renewed calls for federal civil-rights intervention and criticisms of the federal government’s role in militarizing local police. Contributors emphasize interpretation and assessment of the impacts of these issues on the future directions of the intergovernmental relations field. This book will serve as an ideal textbook for courses on intergovernmental relations and federalism, and will be of use to practitioners, nonprofit organizations involved in public policy and management, and civic organizations who are players in intergovernmental management

May PATIMES column: Sports, Politics and the 2026 World Cup

Sports, Politics and the 2026 World Cup

The fast-tracked joint proposal of Canada, Mexico and the United States to host the 2026 men’s World Cup (of soccer) is a positive development in the relationships between sports and…

May 26, 2017Read More

April PATIMES Column: Parenting and Public Administration

Parenting and Public Administration

Two of the great joys in my life are parenting and public administrating. Fourteen months into my time as a father I am recognizing how my most important job is…

April 28, 2017Read More

It’s Not You, It’s Natural Gas: A Power Plant Breaks Up With Coal

It’s Not You, It’s Natural Gas: A Power Plant Breaks Up With Coal

By Benjamin H. Deitchman

Coal: Good morning, Power Plant!  After a long journey from deep inside the mines it is beautiful to emerge on another busy day for us in this electric community!

Power Plant: It is a highly charged day indeed, Coal, but we need to talk.

Coal: Wait, what is that, Power Plant?  Do I smell some sort of gas?

Power Plant: Whoever smelt it, dealt it.

Coal: What are you saying?  Is that Natural Gas?  Have you been weighing the costs and benefits of ending our arrangement in favor of Natural Gas?

Power Plant: I am so sorry, Coal, but our relationship paradigm is changing and we need to discuss our long-term future.  I no longer see you as the best option for me going forward.

Coal: Are you cheating on me with Natural Gas?  Are you breaking up with me?

Power Plant: Coal, you’ve filled my heart with so much energy for so long.  Everyone was talking about us.  Through our relationship we have literally lit up the entire city.  Things, however, have changed.  

Coal: Those terrible regulations, Power Plant!  They are trying to break us up.  The policymakers and bureaucrats are trying to make rules that keep me underground and prevent me from seeing the light of day.  You cannot let them do that to us!

Power Plant: I am so very sorry, Coal, but your paranoia is unfounded.  There is no war against you.

Coal: What is it, then, Power Plant?

Power Plant: You just make me feel so dirty.

Coal: I can become clean Coal.  I promise.

Power Plant: You and your allies have been saying that for years.  There’s always an excuse though, Coal.  The technology just isn’t there right now, and, looking around, I just do not know if carbon dioxide capture and sequestration will ever will be feasible for us in this location.  I am growing old, nearing retirement, and I can’t wait any longer to convert into another relationship.

Coal: Oh, really, Power Plant?  I’ve seen Natural Gas.  You are the one being delusional.  It’s not as if Natural Gas is so pure and clean.

Power Plant: I am sorry, Coal, but Natural Gas is maybe not the cleanest, but Natural Gas is cleaner.  I must also admit to you now that I also explored the option of Nuclear.  Nuclear is emissions free and might be great for me for a long term connection, but the upfront costs of entering into that relationship were just too high for me.  A meltdown from Nuclear is unlikely, but I did not want to take that risk.  Nuclear is just too modern and advanced for me, and I just cannot get involved with someone who hasn’t resolved issues over waste.

Coal: I am reliable, Power Plant.  You can call on me any time of day in any weather conditions.  I can be there for you.

Power Plant: I understand, Coal.  I have been a poor partner of late.  We have not been running together as often.  After my flings with Efficiency, I just do not need you as much.  I actually also flirted with Wind and Solar.  What beautiful resources.  Their love is renewable and clean, no filthy criteria pollutants or greenhouse gases impeding our progress as a couple, but, you must understand, right now I need Natural Gas.

Coal: I am just as good as Natural Gas!

Power Plant:  Life with Natural Gas is now so much more affordable, Coal.  No more waiting for the train to arrive: Natural Gas just flows right on in through the pipeline.

Coal:  You know what, frack you and your fracked friend, Power Plant!  

Power Plant:  It’s true, Natural Gas won me over with the fracking.  Such abundance for me.

Coal: I support the economy, Power Plant.  I support jobs.

Power Plant: I understand, but the economy is changing.  We will work to help you transition into the twenty-first century.  You had to know this breakup was inevitable Coal.  Fracking has become important to me.  I am so sorry.          

Coal:  It is still hard to accept.  What now for me, Power Plant?

Power Plant:  You are still much beloved in some states and countries, but maybe it’s time to try something completely different.  You can travel the world with Santa Claus, visiting the homes of naughty children.

Coal: Fair enough.  We had a good run, Power Plant.  Industrial revolutionary.

Power Plant: I will never forget you, Coal!  When I look out at your fly ash polluting our rivers or when climate change forces me to ramp up on a scorching hot winter day, I will always remember the how the electricity in our relationship powered everything around us.  Rock on, my rock!

Benjamin H. Deitchman is a policy practitioner in Atlanta, Georgia. His recently published book, Climate and Clean Energy Policy: State Institutions and Economic Implications, includes in-depth analysis of energy issues. Dr. Deitchman’s email is deitchmanb@gmail.com.