Suchergebnisse

The logic inherent in the design of the American political system is based upon a presumption that overlapping jurisdictions will give citizens access to multiple sets of officials to tend their interests. That logic also presumes that authority must be divided or fragmented if those who exercise governmental prerogatives are to be held accountable for their actions. It may well be that the most critical problems of urban government have derived from excessive efforts to simplify political structures [Bish and Ostrom, 1973: 93-94].[G]iven its present political organization and decision-making processes, the city is fundamentally ungovernable. By ungovernable I mean that the urban policy- making system is incapable of producing coherent decisions, developing effective policies, or implementing state or federal programs.... City government is an intractable jigsaw puzzle because of the inherent fragmentation of urban service delivery and the historical fragmentation of urban policy-making processes [Yates, 1977: 5,7].Democracy in the United States is subverted at the local level by a unique development-the cordoning off of various subclasses into political units popu lated by their own kind wherein constituents equally escape the costs that might be imposed by participation of those worse off. Central city populations are left the privilege of voting to impose the costs of social-capital and class-containment expenses upon themselves.... Real class differences under capitalism are obscured by a subdifferentiation of class enhanced by segregating residence and by the particular consumption and class-reproduction activities that accompany that residence [Markusen, 1978: 109].

Policy-makers have long been concerned with the quality of local political leadership and have often resorted to institutional reform to try to improve political leadership. This paper looks at a specific and neglected facet of the political management reforms that have been implemented in English local government over the last decade: the tenure and turnover of cabinet members. The tenure of top politicians may be an important influence on the performance of local government particularly when political management is designed to favour individualised leadership. On the one hand, excessively short tenures for top politicians may damage the ability of governments to develop strategic plans and ensure they are implemented while on the other hand the risk of loss of office is central to political accountability and excessively long tenures may be indicative of an insulated and unresponsive elite. While some research attention has been paid to the tenures of leaders of councils in England there is little systematic information about the tenure of cabinet members. This paper discusses the relevance of cabinet stability and provides an overview of recent experience in England.

Black administrators are part of the new thrust for greater black participation in urban governance. This essay examines the extent to which they can and do advocate the interests of black communities through civic, community and professional organizations. The concept of advocacy is discussed and distinguished from concepts of representation, in order to focus more on the advocacy behavior of black urban administrators. Advocacy behaviors are also identified and organized into a civic/community advocacy index and a professional advocacy index. These indices generate scores which suggest the presence and the intensity of advocacy behavior among administrators in the study. A control group of white administrators was selected with which to compare the advocacy inclinations of black urban administrators. Administrators from Washington, St. Louis, New Orleans, and San Francisco participated in the study. Survey research was used not only to examine the advocacy behavior of administrators but also to generate social and occupational data which could be related to advocacy scores. The major finding of this study is that, although black urban administrators appeared more inclined to advocate civic, community, and professional interests than white administrators, the majority of both black and white administrators are generally not advocacy prone.