AMERICAN URBAN POLITICS

This urban politics course examines the evolving intergovernmental structure of political power in and relative to American cities. It includes factors that range from globalization to national and state policies and politics, down through the local level where - to misquote former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill - “all politics used to be local.“ It focuses on the context and drivers of local government politics, structures, and decision-making frameworks and on the evolution of cities’ patterns of relationships with state and national governments. Themes include power and decision-making, the leadership and administration of cities, present day problems and strategies to deal with them, the historical origins of urban politics, past federal and state policies toward cities and the contemporary consequences of these patterns. The survivability of the city in the face of contemporary overlapping crises will be addressed. Among other topics, students can expect to focus on urban political economy, political machines and urban reform, immigration, race and ethnicity in urban politics, regional efforts to contend with economic development and crisis, federal laws and policies that have shaped today’s urban environment, the day to day administration of cities, and urban problems such as fiscal strain, poverty, the burden of growth and attracting economic investment, the costs and consequences of urban terror, disaster, extreme political lability, and the evolving global city.