Historic preservation: A statutory vehicle for disparate agendas

Abstract

During the past 100 years historic preservation has gravitated between portrayals as protector of the nation's cultural heritage, to an impediment of necessary development. Shifting coalitions, most often bent upon pursuing agendas having little to do with the essence of historic preservation, banded together securing statutory provisions largely incremental or symbolic in substance. Of significance was the decades long absence of an issue monopoly, an absence that is not fully explored in the existing policy literature. This study provides insights into the shifts in coalition stability and statutory outputs absent an issue monopoly.