URBAN POLITICS: THE NEW CONVERGENCE OF POWER

In: The journal of politics: JOP, Volume 26, Issue 4, p. 775-797

Abstract

With the growing Ur'ization of the US scholars have increased their interest in cities-there are now specialized Ur subfields in sociol, pol, economics & geography. Inevitably, concern for the substance of city life involves concern for the method of inquiry. Are cities unique or can useful generalizations be made using the city as the unit of analysis? Anyone who talks about Ur structures of power comparatively must face 2 related questions: What is meant by power? How can its empirical dimensions by measured & established? The most crucial structures of policy-relevant power in the large Amer city are examined & an attempt is made partly to identify & partly to postulate a pattern of development that seems warranted by the histories & present circumstances of several cities. Necessarily, comparisons must be made among fragments of data drawn from widely diverse sources, conceptually & methodologically. The result cannot be definitive, but it may stimulate systematic res in Ur data on a comparative basis. The central role of elected pol'al leadership is stressed, as distanct from the analysis of Dahl, Hunter, Mumford, & Jacobs, through all may have a part of the truth about the convergence of power elements in the modern city. IPSA.