Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> American Government - State

In an era when government seems remote and difficult to approach, participatory democracy may seem a hopelessly romantic notion. Yet nothing is more crucial to the future of American democracy than to develop some way of spurring greater citizen participation. In this important book, Jeffrey Berry, Ken Portney, and Ken Thompson examine cities that have created systems of neighborhood government and incorporated citizens in public policymaking. Through careful research and analysis, the authors find that neighborhood based participation is the key to revitalizing American democracy. The...

Nearly one hundred thousand newly enfranchised blacks voted against race-baiting Eugene Talmadge in Georgia's 1946 Democratic primary. His opponent won the popular vote by a majority of sixteen thousand. Talmadge was elected anyway, thanks to the malapportioning county unit system, but died before he could be inaugurated, whereupon the General Assembly chose his son Herman to take his place. For the next sixty-three days, Georgia waited in shock for the state supreme court to decide whether Herman or the lieutenant governor-elect would be seated.

What had happened to so suddenly reverse...

In keeping with the state's major demographic upheavals of recent decades, Georgia politics is an interesting--and sometimes volatile--mix of tradition and change. In contrast to the state's rural past, most Georgians now live in cities or suburbs, and more than 40 percent of the population was born outside the state. However, religion and race remain issues that politicians ignore at great peril, and the state still fares poorly in measures of poverty, education, and voter turnout.

Politics in Georgia uses a comparative framework to examine four major topics: the foundations...

Although the relationship between elected officials and appointed executives has often been viewed as a struggle between master and servant with disagreements as to which individuals occupy which roles Poul Erik Mouritzen s and James Svara s comparison of city governments in fourteen countries reveals more interdependence and shared influence than conflict over control.

Mouritzen and Svara bring local government to the forefront, emphasizing the sophisticated level of city management in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,...

"Though many of the political faces have changed, many of the issues have not. New Mexicans and their governments continue to wrestle...

The stories of civic experiments in...

Innovating with Integrity presents a comprehensive portrait of the local heroes--front-line public servants and middle managers--who are reinventing state and local government, and it offers practical recommendations for innovating successfully.

Based on a study of more than 200 successful government innovations, this book is the first large-scale, systematic analysis of innovation in American government. Sandford Borins identifies the components of integrity that he finds in successful innovators, including the intellectual discipline to plan rigorously and to establish...

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the politics behind the use of mandates requiring state and local governments to implement federal policy.

Over the last twenty-five years, during both liberal and conservative eras, federal mandates have emerged as a resilient tool for advancing the interests of both political parties. Revealing the politics that led to the policies, Paul L. Posner explores the origins of these congressional mandates, what interests and needs they satisfy, whether mandate reform initiatives can be expected to alter their use, and their implications...

In recent decades, local governments across America have increasingly turned specialized functions over to autonomous agencies ranging in scope from subdivision-sized water districts to multi-state transit authorities. This book is the first comprehensive examination of the causes and consequences of special-purpose governments in more than 300 metropolitan areas in the United States. It presents new evidence on the economic, political, and social implications of relying on these special districts while offering important findings about their use and significance.