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Recent years have witnessed a dramatic growth in the number of black elected officials. Although blacks still constitute barely 1 percent of elected officeholders in the nation, their increasing political power cannot be denied. In Black Representation and Urban Policy, Albert K. Karnig and Susan Welch focus on the election of blacks to mayoral and city council seats, using the most current data available on more than 250 cities. They address two major questions: What conditions promote blacks' chances of winning election to public office? Does the election of blacks to municipal office have an effect on urban policy? In exploring the factors that underlie the election of blacks to public office, the authors found that the resources of the black community itself—the size as well as the education and income of the black population—are the best predictors of blacks' winning political office. The authors' assessment of the impact of black elected officials on urban policy constitutes perhaps their most profoundly important finding. Cities with black mayors have had greater increases in social welfare expenditures than have similar communities without black mayors. The authors point out that election of blacks to mayoral posts, then, can have more than symbolic consequences for public policy.
Clarifying the historical connections between the African-American population in the United States and the urban planning profession, this book suggests means by which cooperation and justice may be increased. Chapters examine: the racial origins of zoning in US cities; how Eurocentric family models have shaped planning processes of cities such as Los Angeles; and diversifying planning education in order to advance the profession. There is also a chapter of excerpts from court cases and government reports that have shaped or reflected the racial aspects of urban planning.
This study examines political culture and activism in an African-American neighbourhood in New York City. It challenges the view that black urban communities are "socially disorganized", and demonstrates how African-Americans construct political identities and institutions through their struggles.
It is no exaggeration to say that black America is, once again, at a momentous crossroad. The central issue is what policy direction the nation will adopt in the post-Reagan era. The articles here put into sharp focus the present condition of blacks in selected areas, detail the impact of recent policy initiatives on these conditions, and delineate the League's considered proposals for improvement, following an incisive commentary that discusses some of the broader policy. This is an important reference for policymakers and scholars concerning the contemporary problems facing black America as the nation approaches the uncertainties of the twenty-first century.
This edited collection examines joint efforts by Latinos and African Americans to confront problems faced by populations of both groups in urban settings (in particular, socioeconomic disadvantage and concentration in inner cities). The essays address two major issues: experiences and bases for collaboration and contention between the two groups; and the impact of urban policies and initiatives of recent decades on Blacks and Latinos in central cities.
School boards are fighting for their survival. Almost everything that they do is subject to regulations handed down from city councils, state boards of education, legislatures, and courts. As recent mayoral and state takeovers in such cities as Baltimore, Chicago, and New York make abundantly clear, school boards that do not fulfill the expectations of other political players may be stripped of what few independent powers they still retain. Teachers unions exert growing influence over board decision-making processes. And with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government has aggressively inserted itself into matters of local education governance. B esieged is the first full-length volume in many years to systematically examine the politics that surround school boards. A group of highly renowned scholars, relying on both careful case studies and quantitative analyses, examine how school boards fare when they interact with their political superiors, teachers unions, and the public. For the most part, the picture that emerges is sobering: while school boards perform certain administrative functions quite well, the political pressures they face undermine their capacity to institute the wide-ranging school reforms that many voters and local leaders are currently demanding.
Throughout this century, reformers have fought to eliminate party control of city politics. As a result, the majority of American cities today elect council members in at-large and nonpartisan elections. This result of the turn-of-the-century Progressive movement, which worked for election rules that eliminated the power of the urban machine and the working class on which it was based, is today still a subject of lively debate. For example, in the mid-1980s, regular Democrats in Chicago sought to institute a nonpartisan mayoral election. Supporters thought that reform would make the electoral process more democratic, while opponents charged that it was meant to dilute the voting powers of blacks. Clearly, the effect of urban reform remains an important issue for scholars and politicians alike. Susan Welch and Timothy Bledsoe clarify a portion of the debate by investigating how election structures affect candidates and the nature of representation. They examine the different effects of district versus at-large elections and of partisan versus nonpartisan elections. Who gets elected? Are representatives' socioeconomic status and party affiliation related to election form? Are election structures related to how those who are elected approach their jobs? Do they see themselves as representatives concerned with the good of the city as a whole? Urban Reform and Its Consequences reports an unprecedented wealth of data drawn from a sample of nearly 1,000 council members and communities with populations between 50,000 and 1 million across 42 states. The sample includes communities that use a variety of election procedures. This study is therefore the most comprehensive and accurate to date. Welch and Bledsoe conclude that nonpartisan and at-large elections do give city councils a more middle- and upper-middle-class character and have changed the way representatives view their jobs. Reform measures have not, however, produced councils that are significantly more conservative or more prone to conflict. Overall, the authors conclude that partisan and district elections are more likely to represent the whole community and to make the council more accountable to the electorate.
In Managing Urban America, Eighth Edition, the authors guide students through the politics of urban management—doing less with more while managing conflict, delivering goods and services, responding to federal and state mandates, adapting to changing demographics, and coping with economic and budgetary challenges. This revision: highlights the difficulties cities confront as they deal with the lingering economic challenges of the 2008 Recession evaluates the concept of e-government, and offers numerous examples in both theory and practice considers environmental issues and the implications for urban government management includes new case studies, including some with a global perspective as the authors examine the management of international cities thoroughly updates all data and scholarship.
The official publication of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, this annual publication includes significant scholarly research reflecting the diverse interests of scholars from various backgrounds who use a variety of models, approaches, and methodologies. The central focus is on politics and policies that advantage or disadvantage groups because of race, ethnicity, sex, or other such factors. The research is performed in a variety of contexts and settings. This third volume includes an introductory note by the editor, Lucius J. Barker, in which he assesses the performance of the Journal in defining a "different political science" and a note by incoming editor Matthew Holden, Jr. outlining topics and agendas for future volumes. Feature articles include "Reconceptualizing Urban Violence"; "Political Science and the Black Political Experience"; "The Impact of At-Large Elections on the Representation of Black and White Women"; "State Responses to Richmond v. Croson: A Survey of Equal Opportunity Officers"; "Media in Warsaw Pact States: Explanations of Crisis Coverage"; and "Presence of Immigrants and National Front Vote: The Case of Paris (1984-1990)." The Book Review Section includes review essays on East European research, black urban politics, and the political reincorporatlon of southern blacks, and regular book reviews on minority groups and American political culture and other areas.
Praised for the clarity of its writing, careful research, and distinctive theme – that urban politics in the United States has evolved as a dynamic interaction between governmental power, private actors, and a politics of identity – City Politics remains a classic study of urban politics. Its enduring appeal lies in its persuasive explanation, careful attention to historical detail, and accessible and elegant way of teaching the complexity and breadth of urban and regional politics which unfold at the intersection of spatial, cultural, economic, and policy dynamics. Now in a thoroughly revised tenth edition, this comprehensive resource for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as well-established researchers in the discipline, retains the effective structure of past editions while offering important updates, including: All-new sections on immigration, the Black Lives Matter Movement, the downtown condo boom, and the impact of the sharing economy on urban neighborhoods (especially the rise of Airbnb). Individual chapters introducing students to pressing urban issues such as gentrification, sustainability, metropolitanization, urban crises, the creative class, shrinking cities, racial politics, and suburbanization. The most recent census data integrated throughout to provide current figures for analysis, discussion, and a more nuanced understanding of current trends. Taught on its own, or supplemented with the optional reader American Urban Politics in a Global Age for more advanced readers, City Politics remains the definitive text on urban politics – and how they have evolved in the US over time – for a new generation of students and researchers.