Structural Shifts and Institutional Capacity: Possibilities for Ethnic Cooperation and Conflict in Urban Settings

Abstract

Explores how urban institutional frameworks have dealt with interethnic relations in light of four significant changes over the last 20 years: greatly increased ethnic diversity; polarization of urban residents along class lines; fewer jobs for persons with low skills; & scaled-back federal support. It is contended that these structural shifts have created fresh interethnic tensions that erupted in serious civil disturbances in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, & Washington, DC, by the early 1990s. Cities differed in how they mediated & reshaped interethnic relations due to their different capacities to respond as well as differing institutional configurations. While cities like Los Angeles relied on the private sector to address interethnic relations, others, including New York, acted through political channels. However, it is maintained that institutional frameworks set the parameters for policy responses in all cases. The implications of these institutional frameworks are discussed in relation to the formation of interethnic coalition building & the integration of new political actors into the political process. 4 Tables, 3 Figures, 41 References. J. Lindroth