Although the commission government movement is often treated by historians as an element of the reform surge of the Progressive Era, this is the first full-scale study of the origins, spread, and decline of the commission idea. Commission government originated in Galveston, Texas, where business leaders conceived the plan as a temporary measure to speed recovery from the great hurricane of 1900. Other cities in Texas and across the nation soon followed; by 1920, about 500 municipalities had adopted the plan in which elected representatives serve as heads of city departments and, collectively, as a policy-making body. Beginning with Galveston and Houston and Des Moines, Iowa, Bradley Robert Rice presents detailed case studies of the earliest commission cities and shows how the plan was developed and modified to suit each community’s needs. He goes on to chronicle the adoption of the commission plan by other cities across the country that strove for “businesslike efficiency” as a reaction against corruption and machine politics in urban government. Most commission charters included a wide-ranging package of municipal reforms, such as the short ballot, at-large representation, nonpartisanship, civil service, and direct legislation. Yet Rice shows that the commission plan generally offered little in the way of social reform to accompany its reorganization of municipal government. Applying a model of innovation diffusion, the author analyzes how and why the new form of city government spread across Progressive Era America. He also thoroughly explores the relationship between the commission plan and other Progressive Era reforms and reports on the reasons for its decline from both a social and a practical perspective. Progressive Cities is described by Professor Bruce M. Stave, editor of the Journal of Urban History, as “a sound piece of work which should make a useful and worthwhile contribution to the existing scholarship on urban reform and should appeal to an audience which cuts across disciplines: history, political science, urban studies and urban planning.”
First Published in 1998. Approximately 75 percent of Americans live in cities and surrounding suburbs, and the characteristics of those cities inescapably affect the quality of their lives. This book examines the extent to which these Americans use the political process to control the characteristics of life in their metropolises. In addition, this second edition revision places great emphasis on the role of political leaders, while recognising the interdependence between those leaders and various interests in the city.
This revised textbook for courses on urban politics challenges the notion that the field is dominated by political economy, showing that despite the undeniable importance of economic issues, citizens do play a significant part in urban politics.
This Update includes discussions about September 11th, the war on terrorism, and the midterm elections and includes access to the new LongmanParticipate.com Version 2.0. This Update is the Brief Study Edition of Government in America with new discussions inserted into the text without changing the page numbering. It gives students the most current and accurate portrait of their government with the least amount of disruption to instructors. Since the page numbers don't change, instructors using the Brief Study Edition do not have to change their syllabi to use this Update. The currency of the book will help engage students in the text material and the discussions of September 11th will help to answer their questions about the ways in which the tragedy has impacted our lives and our system. Containing all the engaging and effective features that have made Government in America, Brief Edition Election Update such a success, the Study Edition offers a bonus: Chapter Tests at the end of the book at no extra cost to students. There are two ways instructors can use the Study Edition: 1) they can order it packaged with the Solutions Manual so students can test themselves and practice for exams, or 2) they can order it without the Solution Manual and ask students to submit the quizzes for a grade. Either way, the Edwards Study Edition provides instructors and students with an effective study system not found in other books.
Managing Urban America guides students through the challenges, politics, and practice of urban management—including managing conflict through politics, adapting to demographic and social changes, balancing budgets, and delivering a myriad of goods and services to citizens in an efficient, equitable, and responsive manner. The Eighth Edition has been thoroughly updated to include a discussion of the difficulties cities confront as they deal with the lingering economic challenges of the 2008 recession, the concept of e-government and how it affects the theory and practice of management, and the implications of environmental issues for urban government management.
Selections from The Municipal Year Book: On The Profession contains facts, figures, and research-based articles on management trends and intergovernmental relations: (1) Reflections on the First Decade of the 21st Century, (2) The Politics of Apolitical Leadership, and (3) Growing Income Disparity and the Implications for Local Government.
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