Zero-Sum Politics,The Herbert Thesis and the Ryan White Care Act: Lessons from the Local Side of Aids

Abstract

This study examines the dynamics of grass-roots decision making processes involved in the implementation of the Ryan White CARE Act. Providing social services to persons with HIV/AIDS, the CARE act requires participation of all relevant groups, including representatives of the HIV/AIDS and gay communities.

Decision making behavior is explored by applying a political (zero-sum) model and a bureaucratic (the Herbert Thesis) model.

Using qualitative research techniques, the Kern County (California) HIV Consortium is used as a case study. Findings shed light on the decision making behavior of social service organizations characterized by intense advocacy and structured on the basis of voluntarism and non-hierarchical relationships. Findings affirm bureaucratic behavior predicted by the Herbert Thesis, and they also discern factors which seem to trigger more conflictual zero-sum behavior.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Douglas

Jack D.

(1985). Creative Interviewing. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Herbert

Adam W.

(1974). “The Minority Administrator: Problems, Prospects, and Challenges.” Public Administration Review 34(6): 556–563.

Krislov

Samuel

(1974). Representative Bureaucracy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lowi

Theodore J.

(1964). “American Business, Public Policy, Case-Studies, and Political Theory,” World Politics (24): 677–715

Martinez

Thomas R.

(1991). “The Role of Hispanic Public Administrators: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis,” American Review of Public Administration 21(2):33–55.

McCracken

Grant

. (1992). The Long Interview. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Mosher

Frederick C.

(1982). Democracy and the Public Service. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ripley

Randall B.

And Franklin

Grace A.

(1986). Policy Implementation and the Bureaucracy. Chicago, Ill.: Dorsey Press.

Shilts

Randy

(1988). And The Band Played On. New York: Penguin Books.

10.

Slack

James D.

(1998). HIV/AIDS and the Public Workplace: Local Government Preparedness in the 1990s. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.

11.

Smith

Steven Rathgeb

and Lipsky

Michael

(1995). Nonprofits for Hire: The Welfare State in the Age of Contracting. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

12.

Theodoulou

Stella Z.

(1996). AIDS: The Politics and Policy of Disease. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.