A Path Forward

Abstract

Space policy and environmental politics have come a long way from their beginnings in the post-war period. Each of these policy areas has witnessed monumental changes from the Clean Air Act of 1970 and its subsequent amendments to the landing of a man on the moon and a permanently manned space station in earth’s orbit today. This research has traced much of this distinctive history. In doing so, it has also explained, to a large extent, despite the differences in policy areas and concerns, the cyclical patterns inherent in American government. While many of the individual developments of policy over the past 50 years may seem isolated or even haphazard, the work presented here shows that this is far from the case; American politics proceeds in patterns that are not only relatively predictable but are drawn from the institutional characteristics of government itself.