Since the late 1960s, the burgeoning gay rights movement has begun to have a profound effect on the politics of many American cities. This book presents a comprehensive exploration of gay and lesbian politics in urban settings. The study presents a window into how sexual identity has fostered political alliances and investigates the mayoral voting patterns in America's three largest cities - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago - offering case studies of specific urban political settings.

Over two centuries of American history the Supreme Court has often become a significant issue in presidential elections, with voters acutely aware that the dominance of one party at the polls may translate into that party's dominance on the nation's highest court. Should Americans presume that votes at the ballot box will have an effect on votes at the Supreme Court on what our Constitution means?

Donald Grier Stephenson Jr. explores the periods when the Court has been an issue in elections--and when it has not--investigating ten elections in which the Court was clearly an issue and...

The first in-depth analysis of the link between politicians' behavior and opinion polls. Exploring political action within a broad historical context, the book develops a theory to show how the behavior of politicians, and the unfolding of political change, have been irrevocably altered since the advent of opinion polling in the 1930s.

Examines the impact of sex role stereotyping on the electability of women candidates, and as a central factor in the conduct and consequences of statewide campaigns.

What is the role of race in social policy? Have race-based programmes failed? Should welfare and civil rights be blind to colour?

The first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Reagan revolution on African-American political life, this book explores the ways in which conservative elites mobilized the American public around issues of race as ideology, discourse, strategy, and political elections from the Reagan victory of 1980 to the Republican congressional triumphs of 1994. The book also critically assesses the Clinton administration's record on race and the Democratic party response to affirmative action, welfare, and other aspects of the African-American political agenda.

Has black inclusion in the political process changed political institutions and led to more black influence in the governmental process? How do African American legislators balance racial interests with broader issues of government? And how is their effectiveness subjectively perceived and objectively evaluated?

In one of the first book-length studies to analyze the behavior of African American state legislators in multiple legislative sessions across five states, Kerry Haynie has compiled a wealth of valuable data that reveals the dynamics and effectiveness of black participation in the...

"Every once in a while somebody has to get the bureaucracy by the neck and shake it loose and say, 'Stop doing what you're doing.'" --Ronald Reagan

How did senior career civil servants react to Ronald Reagan's attempt to redirect policy and increase presidential control over the bureaucracy? What issues molded their reactions? What motivates civil servants in general? How should they be managed and how do they affect federal policies? To answer these questions, Marissa Martino Golden offers us a glimpse into the world of our federal agencies.

What Motivates Bureaucrats?...

From the abolition of slavery to the civil rights movement one hundred years later, one of the primary characteristics of America's development as a nation has been the steady struggle for and expansion of the horizons of citizenship. Pivotal in any equal rights movement is the response of the White House: how the president addresses any such movement profoundly affects its chances for success. Russell L. Riley examines the logic of presidential behavior with regard to equality movements. Focusing on the most explosive and enduring of such movements--the struggle for social and economic...

Ten years ago the Iran-Contra affair swept the headlines as the nation watched an indignant Lt. Col. Oliver North testify before a congressional committee. Although polls showed that most Americans were critical of North's actions and ambivalent toward the man himself, media coverage left the opposite impression, with its broadcasts of "Ollie-for-president" rallies and stories of congressional aides overwhelmed by a torrent of pro-North mail.

In this book, public opinion is more than the sum of a pollster's tally; instead, Amy Fried defines it as a political tool, integral to the...