Remote and thinly populated, Maine has been insulated from many of the demo-graphic and economic trends of states to the south. But Maine Politics and Government shows how rapidly this situation is changing. In the 1970s and 1980s, Maine - once dependent on agriculture, manufacturing, and maritime trades - underwent extensive commercial development. High-tech businesses and fashionable suburbs, concentrated in the southern counties, began to assert a new political force. The authors of this book view these changes in the context of the state's long history. Although Maine's population and economy have become more diversified, its public policies more complex, and its government more professionalized and centralized, there remains a remarkable degree of stability in political attitudes. And Maine still operates under its original 1819 constitution; the amendments added over time have largely maintained its original structure while allowing for changing conditions.
This book illuminates the workings of Maine's executive, legislative, and judicial branches and its relations with the federal government, as well as local concerns, without losing sight of the Pine Tree State's uniqueness. Kenneth T. Palmer is a professor of political science and G. Thomas Taylor a professor of public administration at the University of Maine. Each has published widely in his discipline. Marcus A. LiBrizzi, a doctoral student at McGill University, has published in the Maine Historical Society Quarterly. Daniel S. Elazar is director of the Center for the Study of Federalism at Temple University.
- ISBN10 0803287186
- ISBN13 9780803287181
- Publish Date 1 November 1992
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 8 July 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Nebraska Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 240
- Language English