 Urban political structures not neutral  Examples: ◦ Ethnic leaders viewed civil service reforms as “the curse of the nation” ◦ Metropolitan governments opposed by African- American leaders ◦ Bussing in school districts opposed by ethnics and suburban whites

◦ Zoning regulations often used to exclude poor

 First Theme ◦ Participants in the political process anticipate that major changes in:  governmental structures,  boundaries,  decision making processes ◦ Produce policy changes that would be for or against their interests

 Second Theme ◦ Most important urban political issues now involve more than the central cities  suburbs & the exurbs  metropolitan-level structures of government  federal government ◦ Contemporary politics of the central city and the entire metropolitan region are intertwined, not separate

 Third Theme ◦ Key issues at stake involved changes in either  channels through which citizens would have political access to key decision matters ◦ Or direct social access to important amenities of urban life ◦ Examples:  quality education  housing  transportation

 Fourth Theme ◦ Federal government has become a key participant in urban and metropolitan politics ◦ Washington influences decisions on housing, education and intra-urban transportation ◦ Above issues previously were viewed as exclusively local prerogatives

 Abrupt change imposed from above (the national level) ◦ Change in rules of the game – as opposed to change in government ◦ Fidel Castro’s abolition of the mayor-council system (modeled on the US.) of government for Havana ◦ Reorganization in Buenos Aires following the constitutional reform of 1994 ◦ Creation of the Metropolitan District in Caracas upon adoption of a new constitution (1999)

 Incrementalism has predominated ◦ Three historical periods of urban/metropolitan politics  Age of political machines  Progressive movement  Period of the dependent city

 Lyndon B. Johnson ( ): bringing the federal government in (Great Society)  Ronald W. Reagan ( ) distancing the federal government from the cities

 Other Regular Subdivisions ◦ Town/Township ◦ School District

 Special District ◦ Tri-State Port Authority ◦ Services Metropolitan New York (N.Y.; N. New Jersey; W. Connecticut)

 Political Power: the ability to influence public decisions  Critical Dimensions of political power ◦ Context of Power ◦ Structure of Power  Public Power and Private power

 Quaker Philadelphia & Puritan Boston ◦ Priority on individual and private sector ◦ Priority to the leadership in the public sector  Sam Warner: The Private City (Philadelphia

 Priority to private sector following the Civil War ◦ Wealth increasingly concentrated in 1890’s ◦ Wilson administration (1913 – 1920)  Role of government increased  Heavy handed national security policies leads to election of conservative Republican Warren G. Harding  Social and economic Darwinism Ascendant in 1920’s

 New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt  Great Society of Lyndon Johnson  Reagan Revolution resurrects support for smaller government ◦ Government problem – not solution ◦ Bush I and Clinton continue the policies ◦ More leeway to capitalist institutions under George W. Bush  Differential Impacts of Privatization ◦ Affluent ◦ Less fortunate

 Concern with the negative consequences of Bush administration’s reliance on private sector  Affinity for plight of underclass in the cities  Greater confidence in the capabilities of government