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Protecting the natural environment and promoting environmental sustainability have become important objectives for U.S. policymakers and public administrators at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Institutions of American government, especially at the federal level, and the public administrators who work inside of those institutions, play a crucial role in developing and implementing environmental sustainability policies.
This book explores these salient issues logically. First, it explores fundamental concepts such as what it means to be environmentally sustainable, how economic issues affect environmental policy, and the philosophical schools of thought about what policies ought to be considered sustainable. From there, it focuses on processes and institutions affecting public administration and its role in the policy process. Accordingly, it summarizes the rise of the administrative state in the United States and then reviews the development of federal environmental laws and policies with an emphasis on late twentieth century developments. This book also discusses the evolution of American environmentalism by outlining the history of the environmental movement and the growth of the environmental lobby. Finally, this book synthesizes the information to discuss how public administration can promote environmental sustainability.
List of contents
Introduction and Acknowledgments
Part I: Concepts
Chapter 1: Defining and Understanding Sustainability
Chapter 2: The "Dismal Science" of Economics
Chapter 3: The Ethics of Sustainability
Part II: Processes and Institutions
Chapter 4: The Rise of the American Administrative State
Chapter 5: The Development of Federal Environmental Law
Part III: Modern American Environmentalism
Chapter 6: A Brief History of the Modern Environmental Movement
Chapter 7: Interest Groups and the Environmental Lobby
Part IV: Conclusion
Chapter 8: Sustainability and American Public Administration: Where Do We Go From Here?
References
About the author
By J. Michael Martinez
Summary
This book discusses the many meanings of "sustainability," explores the importance of economics in environmental policy-making, and highlights the schools of thought in environmental ethics. It concludes that public administrators can play an important role in ensuring that environmental sustainability is an integral part of American government.
