Policy Drift: Shared Powers and the Making of U.S. Law and Policy

The role of formal and informal institutional forces in changing three areas of U.S. public policy: privacy rights, civil rights and climate policy

There is no finality to the public policy process. Although it’s often assumed that once a law is enacted it is implemented faithfully, even policies believed to be stable can change or drift in unexpected directions. The Fourth Amendment, for example, guarantees Americans’ privacy rights, but the 9/11 terrorist attacks set off one of the worst c...