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Maurice Mullard deals with the nature of contemporary globalization. He shows that globalization is not an inescapable, unstoppable process somehow beyond human control, rather that it represents, and is being shaped by, a series of deliberate policy choices and policy decisions

Chapter 1 Polarization in Post-Industrial Societies: Social and Economic Roots and Consequences -- I The Concept of Polarization -- II The Causes of Polarization: Economic Restructuring -- III The Changing Nature of Employment and the Polarized Nature of Cities -- IV Linking Groups and Economic Change -- V Relating Social to Spatial Polarization -- VI Propositions for the Study of Social Polarization -- VI.a Propositions -- VII Conclusions -- Chapter 2 Social Polarization in Post-Industrial London -- I From Pre-Industrial to Post-Industrial City -- II The Emergence of the Post-Industrial City -- III Social Polarization in London -- IV Race and Ethnicity in London -- V Issues of Policy -- Chapter 3 Social Segmentation and Spatial Polarization in Greater Paris -- I The Economic and Political Roles of Paris -- I.a Paris as an International and National Metropolis -- I. b Paris as a National Capital -- II Regional and Local Forms and Processes of Polarization and Segregation -- II.a Processes of Social Polarization -- II.b Residential Segregation -- III Social Policies against Polarization and Residential Segregation -- III.a Urban Renewal in Paris and Social Polarization in the Metropolis -- III.b The District of La Défense -- III. c New Towns as Growth Centers -- III d Social Housing: Is there a Duality in the Suburban Housing Market? -- IV Present Stakes and Future Challenges of Segregation -- IV. a Suburban Crisis: Social Crisis or Housing Crisis? -- IV.b Urban Dynamics and Relations between Metropolization and Segregation -- V Conclusion -- Chapter 4 Amsterdam: Urban Change and the Welfare State -- I Introduction -- II Changes Affecting Dutch Society in the Last Quarter-Century -- II.a Economic Restructuring in the Netherlands -- II.b Changing Household Composition in the Netherlands -- II. c International Migration to the Netherlands

This paper investigates the merits of different democratic institutions when politics is uni-dimensional, there is uncertainty both about the preferences of the future electorate and the future polarization of political parties, and politicians have better information about the state of the world than voters. Three types of institutions are compared: direct democracy, representative democracy, where politicians are accountable and independent agencies, where they are not. Low uncertainty about the state of the world and the future electorate s preferences and high expected polarization make direct democracy optimal, while the opposite configuration makes representative democracy optimal. Independent agencies are optimal for intermediate values.

We develop a dynamic two-party political economy framework, in which parties seek to maximize vote share and face the trade-off between catering to their respective core constituencies on the one hand and "middle of the road" voters with no partisan affiliation on the other hand. In contrast to ideology-driven individuals, "middle of the road" voters care about the state of the economy in the sense that a policy reform is desirable for them when the fundamentals of the economy change. However, information is "sticky" in the sense that the process of information diffusion about the state of the economy, which is determined by some exogenous stochastic process, is imperfect. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we show that an increase in ideological polarization may enhance social welfare by mitigating the friction in information flow.

Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Part I Overview -- 1 Place, Power, and Polarization: Introduction -- 2 The Kerner Commission Twenty Years Later -- Part II Description and Analysis of the Issues -- 3 The Nature and Dimensions of the Underclass -- 4 What Happened to African-American Wages in the 1980s? -- 5 Changing Black Employment Patterns -- 6 The (Un)Housed City: Racial Patterns of Segregation, Housing Quality and Affordability -- 7 Race and Inner-City Education -- 8 The Persistence of Differing Trends in African-American Mortality and Morbidity Rates -- 9 Leadership and Race in the Administrative City: Building and Maintaining Direction for Justice in Complex Urban Networks -- 10 Racial Politics and Black Power in the Cities -- Part III Policy Prescriptions -- 11 A Cumulative Causation Model of the Underclass: Implications for Urban Economic Development Policy -- 12 The Underclass: Causes and Responses -- 13 From Caste to Class to Caste: The Changing Nature of Race Relations in America -- 14 New Directions in Housing Policy for African-Americans -- 15 The Case for Racial Integration -- 16 Obstacles to Housing Integration Program Efforts -- 17 Policy Prescriptions for Inner-City Public Schooling -- 18 Race and the American City: Living the American Dilemma -- 19 Beyond Black and White: Multicultural Understanding and the Sharing of Power -- About the Authors