Public Policy

Public Policy

Introduction

The geography of public policy concerns spatial and human-environmental aspects of the origin, formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of public policy. Many American geographers have made important contributions to domestic public policy, including Henry Gannett on census geography in the late 19th century, Gilbert White on water issues in the mid 20th century, and Brian Berry on metropolitan issues in the late 20th century. Other American geographers have made important contributions to American foreign policy, including Isaiah Bowman, who served as America's Chief Territorial Specialist during the Versailles Treaty negotiations at the end of World War I; Lewis Alexander, who contributed to U.N. Law of the Sea negotiations in the mid 20th century; and George Demko, who dealt with international humanitarian and boundary issues as Director of the Office of Geographer in the U.S. Department of State in the late 20th century. This entry describes the field of public policy geography and the function of public policy in American life, both as a source of employment and, more broadly, as a dimension of the collective life of citizens. It then examines the models that have been used in research on public policy, along with the settings in which it occurs and the various ways in which it is manifested. One area of particular interest to geographers is the expanded role of public sector employment related to geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing.

Discussion

In the latter half of the 20th century, international agricultural research centers (IARCs), alongside national research programs, contributed to the development and distribution of modern high-yielding varieties (HYVs) for many principal food crops in the developing world. Although these HYVs undoubtedly generated enormous increases in production and substantial reductions in food prices, the process was inherently controversial. Productivity gains have been argued to be inconsistent across crops and regions, and the new farming practices and artificial additives introduced alongside the high-yielding crops have been charged with an array of environmental problems. Today the green revolution continues, albeit in an altered state, and debates persist about the achievements of crop genetic improvement and its effect on agrarian livelihoods and the environment (Chapman, 2002).

In terms of environmental consequences, the green revolution has garnered severe criticism. Censure has typically come from those who argue that the successes of HYVs are only realizable when all requisites—namely, intensive synthetic fertilizer and pesticide application, optimal irrigation levels, and agricultural monoculture (the practice of growing a single crop variety over a large area)—are met. In the same way, skeptical observers have drawn attention to the newly introduced farming techniques and accompanying environmental risks. Soils were argued to become “addicted” to synthetic fertilizers, requiring higher and increasingly recurrent doses. Such intensive fertilizer use was shown in many cases to result in nitration (the harmful reaction between nitric acid and an organic compound) and the eutrophication of local bodies of freshwater (in which abnormally high weed and algal growth, caused by an enrichment of nutrition levels from heavy chemical use, eventually dissipates the oxygen levels of ...