Levers of Power

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Kevin A. Young. Levers of Power

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Levers of Power

How the 1% Rules and What

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In analyzing the origins and shaping of legislation, we focus primarily on Obama-era initiatives. We consider a variety of legislative proposals, including both progressive reform initiatives and pro-business ones. The dominant forces in the legislative phase tend to be the elite institutions that are “most affected by the proposed change” (in Al Gore’s words). We stress the role of disruption, real or potential, in influencing this process. At times mass pressure plays an important role, particularly in the initiation of legislation. That pressure is usually most effective when social movements threaten the stability of the “most affected.”

In the second part of the book we examine the often-neglected but crucial phase of policy implementation. Policy is determined not just by the laws themselves, but by how the executive branch with its myriad departments and agencies decides to apply them. We trace the roles of the “most affected” elite institutions in shaping implementation, and then turn to instances in which mass disruption has played a determining role in how laws are implemented. We discuss the workers’ movement of the 1930s, black struggles for civil rights and economic justice in the 1960s, and the US withdrawal from Vietnam. In each case, progressive changes in policy implementation resulted from disruption directed at the “most affected” institutions. This chapter may be of particular interest to readers involved in social movements.

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