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Federal Grants To the States

Who Governs?

University of Delaware

Marian Lief Palley

University of Delaware

The nature of the American federal system has changed dramatically during the 20th century. The traditional view of the American system as a "layer cake" was replaced with a "marble cake" representation. In the 1960's and 1970's a metaphoric "picket fence" was constructed to better describe relations between governments. However, little empirical study has tested the accuracy of this widely accepted explanation of intergovernmental relations. This article assesses the adequacy of the "picket fence model" and suggests that state agencies are relatively autonomous decision-making units-operating much like private businesses with little oversight by state or federal officials. Therefore, a regulatory model is proposed as a more realistic representation of the intergovernmental system.

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