The War on Poverty Paradox: Policy Feedback, Federalism, and State-Citizen Relations

Carrigg, Daniel Timothy

Full Metadata

Overview

Year:: 2020
Contributor:: Carrigg, Daniel Timothy (creator); Morone, James (Advisor); Schiller, Wendy (Reader); Gourevitch, Alex (Reader); Brown University. Department of Political Science (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Poverty; Presidents; Policy Feedback; War on Poverty; Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973; Project Head Start (U.S.); Community Action Program (U.S.); Community Health Centers
Extent:: vi, 304 p.

Files

Description

Abstract:: This dissertation focuses on what I call “the War on Poverty Paradox.” How could scholars of every persuasion nearly unanimously agree that the War on Poverty had failed when it spawned a vast series of often popular laws and programs that have survived for over half-a-century? This is especially perplexing since individual components surprisingly often received bipartisan support over time. I examine the relationship between theories of poverty and theories of who governs to see how these effect the positions of various personnel in the Executive Office of the President and the issue networks they interact with who are designing War on Poverty programs in the Johnson Era. I then examine three cases: Community Health Centers, Head Start, and Community Action Programs, as programs established in the 1960s change over the subsequent 50 years. I conclude that the War on Poverty was successful by many measures, and was built with features that were attractive to both liberals and conservatives. To liberals, programs spawned by the War on Poverty tilted the balance of power and access to services towards the poor and racial minorities. To conservatives, programs designed to do an end-run around local government by liberals concerned about prejudiced local officials become a ready-made vehicle to privatize and contract out government services. Much growth in the American private not-for-profit sector resulted, components of the War on Poverty endure and remain popular even if the overarching program was incapable of ending poverty, and citizens’ relations to and expectations of federal public services are fundamentally changed along with feedback effects.
Notes:: Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brown University, 2020

Content

Access Conditions

Rights: In Copyright
Restrictions on Use: Collection is open for research.

Citation

Carrigg, Daniel Timothy, "The War on Poverty Paradox: Policy Feedback, Federalism, and State-Citizen Relations" (2020). Political Science Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:1129441/

Relations

Collection:

Political Science Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Political Science department.
...