Federalism & homeland security: A comparative state study

Evolving relationships between the federal and state governments concerning homeland security policy and lack of state homeland security policy studies provided an opportunity for initial research into Illinois and Indiana policies and their relations to the federal government. The current research attempted to fill a void in the literature by bringing understanding to current relationships between the states and federal government in homeland security and state homeland security policy behavior. The homeland security literature since 9/11 repeats the importance of the state and local government in homeland security planning, but few studies have been conducted that examine: federalism dimensions in homeland security; homeland security policy behavior within states; or factors that impact these elements. The study examined contemporary relationships between Illinois and Indiana and the federal government in homeland security; explored homeland security policy behavior in Illinois and Indiana; examined the impact of state homeland security governance structure on intrastate homeland security policy development and state-federal relationships within those states; and explored intrastate intergovernmental relationships in homeland security. This study's two-state comparative framework enabled an analysis of contemporary state-federal relationships in homeland security and state policy behavior in homeland security. Dissimilar states were used in this study. Expectations were that different patterns would emerge in dissimilar states. Three hypotheses were developed and tested in the study.