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Their Boot in Our Face No Longer? Administrative Sectionalism and Resistance to Federal Authority in the U.S. South

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Nicholas G. Napolio Open the ORCID record for Nicholas G. Napolio [Opens in a new window]  and
Jordan Carr Peterson
Nicholas G. Napolio*
Affiliation:
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Jordan Carr Peterson
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA
*
Nicholas G. Napolio, Department of Political Science, University of Southern California, 3518 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. Email: napolio@usc.edu
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Abstract

What explains state agency resistance to actions taken by their federal counterparts? And do sectional tensions make state bureaucratic nonacquiescence particularly likely in the U.S. South? We theorize that state resistance to federal administrative policy is more likely among Southern state bureaus due to administrative sectionalism. We argue that state agencies can and do resist federal administrative orders independent of other political constraints. This study is among the first to consider the policy consequences of sectionalism in state bureaucracies. We test our claims by employing a mixed methods approach that analyzes each instance of litigation and intervention by state bureaucrats in opposition to actions and orders by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from 2010 to 2017. We find that, all else equal, state agency resistance to federal utility policy is about 3.75 times as likely among Southern utility regulators. This research has important normative implications for administrative politics as it suggests agencies with putatively apolitical policy jurisdiction have political preferences driven by sectional tension.

Keywords

administrative politicsenergy policyfederalismintergovernmental relationspartisanshipsectionalismSouthern politics
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 101 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018

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