Luke Fowler, an associate professor and program director of the public policy and administration master’s program, and Monica Hubbard, an assistant professor in the public policy and administration program, published a piece in the July 16 edition of Public Administration Review.
“Is the New Deal a Fitting Implementation Model for the Green New Deal?” examines the proposed Green New Deal, which calls for reorienting the U.S. economy towards environmental sustainability, much like FDR’s New Deal of 1933 modernized the nation’s economy following the Great Depression.
Fowler and Hubbard state that, since federalism in the United States has changed since 1933, the Green New Deal cannot rely on the top-down coordination of FDR’s New Deal and instead would have to accommodate bigger roles for subnational governments.
“The New Deal does not offer a fitting implementation model for the GND,” concluded Fowler and Hubbard. Advocates of the Green New Deal “may be able to use the imagery of The New Deal to sell their proposal, but would be wise to take implementation lessons from more recent history.”