Intergovernmental Redirection

Intergovernmental reformers have long attempted to remedy the system's more apparent defects, especially the recent buildup in federal-state-local relations as Washington's involvement became broader and deeper. These remedies have included incremental and procedural changes, rationalization of federal aid and program delivery instruments, and total overhaul of the system through functional realignment. Efforts in the past have proved only marginally successful, essentially due to the fact that Congress had become the dominant architect and defender of the system. The world of intergovernmental relations changed dramatically from 1978 on, due to the poor performance of the economy, antitax and antispending sentiment, public-sector retrenchment, and fiscal deterioration at the federal level. Decentralization, competition, and fragmentation characterize the contemporary do-it-yourself federalism. President Reagan's proposed swap, turnback, and trust-fund package of New Federalism seeks to capture these changes in a system realignment. I examine these changes in light of whither intergovernmental relations go in the 1980s.