Understanding intergovernmental coercion: Explaining American state administrators' perceptions of national regulatory influences

Abstract

Empirical research has not adequately explained how intergovernmental actors develop their perceptions, attitudes, or images of other actors in an intergovernmental context. This article investigates how American state administrator's perceptions of the national government are shaped in American state-national relationships. The research question addressed is what factors contribute to state administrators' perceptions of national regulatory influences on state governments. Data from the 2004 American State Administrators Project surveys are used to measure state administrators' perceptions of national regulatory influences. A structural equation model was employed to test several hypotheses. It is found that political partisanship, formal position, agency dependency on federal aid, and the amount of federal land in each state played significant roles as determinants of the attitudes of state administrators toward national government regulatory (or coercive) actions. © International Review of Public Administration.