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"Harold Washington was one of the most spellbinding and irresistible characters I have encountered in my 40 years in journalism and politics. Part philosopher, part street brawler and always entertaining, Harold was as big and ebullient as the town he came to lead." -David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama Harold, the People's Mayor is the authorized biography of Chicago's first black mayor, written by the late civil rights activist and prolific author Dempsey Travis, a...

This book is the first of its kind to take concepts directly from the most commonly used textbooks in state and local politics and apply them directly to current events. It presents twelve chapters of case studies, richly detailing key topics ranging from how the comparative method can be used to understand the similarities and differences between diverse places, to a look at how state governments have taken the lead on COVID-19, environmental policy, civil rights, gun control, college tuition r...

The book's theme of increased capacity and responsiveness of state and local government conveys excitement about politics at the grassroots level and is pro public service.

In the late nineteenth century, public officials throughout the United States began to experiment with new methods of managing their local economies and meeting the infrastructure needs of a newly urban, industrial nation. Stymied by legal barriers, they created a new class of quasipublic agencies called public authorities. Today these entities operate at all levels of government, and range from tiny operations like the Springfield Parking Authority in Massachusetts, which runs thirteen parking...

Drawing on their experience in battling corruption around the world, the authors of this text offer ways to defeat corruption on the local level. They maintain that ""preventing corruption can help raise city revenues, improve service delivery, stimulate public confidence and participation, and win elections"". The publication gives examples of where this has been achieved, even in the most adverse settings, and how it can be done again. Case studies from New York, Hong Kong, and La Paz, Bolivia...

Drumlanrig Castle, the clan seat of the Douglases of Queensberry, is a very modern edifice, in terms of this old and influential border family, as they trace their roots far into the archaeological record of the Scottish nation. Rather than tackle the end of the family spectrum represented by the infamous Archibald the Grim, this book chooses to consider instead the intimate and, at times, almost symbiotic relationship between clan and landscape. An examination of both the historical and archaeo...

In Leviathan, renowned public interest attorney Bolick describes how the unchecked growth of local governments is eroding our nation's productive vitality and threatening us with ""grassroots tyranny""-and ultimately reveals that, although the rules are often rigged in favor of local governments and against ordinary citizens, we can take action to rein in these bureaucracies.

State takeovers of local governments have garnered national attention of late, particularly following the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. In most U.S. cities, local governments are responsible for decisions concerning matters such as the local water supply and school affairs. However, once a state takes over, this decision-making capability is shuttled. Despite the widespread attention that takeovers in Flint and Detroit have gained, we know little about how such takeovers-a policy option that...

Click here to preview a sample chapter!In this highly anticipated revision, editors Barbara Norrander and Clyde Wilcox expose students to the substance and process of public opinion research in an accessible way. Capturing the diversity of this research with 12 essays 10 new to this edition and 2 fully updated well-respected contributors highlight the many approaches social scientists use to explore public opinion while citing actual research and teasing out the political implications of their f...

The book's approach to governance underscores the need to a broader look at governance beyond networks and network governance. The focus on ambiguities which are consubstantial to governance raises the question of how those ambiguities are handled and resolved through the institutionalization of practices and on the social, political and policy outcomes and consequences of these institutional solutions. As a result, contributions to this volume explicitly address ambiguities in governance dynami...

Neil Kraus evaluates both the influence of public opinion on local policy-making and the extent to which public policy addresses economic and social inequalities. Drawing on several years of fieldwork and multiple sources of data, including surveys and polls; initiatives, referenda, and election results; government documents; focus groups; interviews; and a wide assortment of secondary sources, Kraus presents case studies of two Midwestern cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Gary, Indiana. Speci...

"Offers a much needed update on urban politics in a globalized world... Davidson and Martin, as well as contributors, chart new territory and produce thought-provoking research that move the field in a more critical direction" - Setha M. Low, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York "A critical analysis of power and politics is essential to an understanding of contemporary urbanism. Informative and challenging, clear and sophisticated, Urban Politics: Critical Approaches encourag...

In 1970, Kenneth Gibson was elected as Newark, New Jersey's first African-American mayor, a position he held for an impressive sixteen years. Yet even as Gibson served as a trailblazer for black politicians, he presided over a troubled time in the city's history, as Newark's industries declined and its crime and unemployment rates soared. This book offers a balanced assessment of Gibson's leadership and his legacy, from the perspectives of the people most deeply immersed in 1970s and 1980s Newa...

Cities, Sagebrush, and Solitude explores the transformation of the largest desert in North America, the Great Basin, into America's last urban frontier. In recent decades Las Vegas, Reno, Salt Lake City, and Boise have become the anchors for sprawling metropolitan regions. This population explosion has been fueled by the maturing of Las Vegas as the nation's entertainment capital, the rise of Reno as a magnet for multitudes of California expatriates, the development of Salt Lake City's urban cor...