Metropolitan College of New York Devolution and State Autonomy Questions

Question Description

I’m working on a writing multi-part question and need an explanation to help me understand better.

1. How has the movement from categorical grants to block grants and GRS enhanced state autonomy?

2. What are the implications of devolution for state autonomy?

3. If you are a state or local administrator do you take devolution to be the same as unfunded mandates? Explain why or why not

4. Explain the following quote from Alberta Sbragi: The opportunity structure that faces local governments in the present has evolved over nearly two centuries and is deeply rooted in the historical legacy of government intervention in the American governments’ jostling and competing for position, authority, jurisdiction, and finance. The creation of the structure we now find in situ has been fraught with intergovernmental conflict, and its shape has been defined by the winners and losers of those battles. In many cases, the arbiter of such conflict has been the judiciary-both the state courts and the US supreme court.”

5 What are the implications of coercive federalism on your ability to administer a state or local program?