| This dissertation examines four environmental policy areas: the management of the national forests, the management of the national parks, federal wilderness preservation policy, and federal clean air policies. The author argues that the historical development of these policy areas is consistent with the plural elite and economic elite theories of policymaking. Specifically, he contends that wealth is the most powerful explanatory variable with respect to public policy development and state behavior. The author utilizes the issue networks perspective, state autonomy theory, and structural Marxism to generate alternative hypotheses. Through the use of these various theories of the state this dissertation analyzes the role of interest groups, science, wealth, political autonomy, market forces, and ideology in the development of public policy. |
