Regime Theory,State Government,and a Takeover of Urban Education

Abstract State government possesses the resources and authority to directly shape urban education policy but regime theorists understate the roles governors, state legislatures, and other state actors play as members of urban education regimes. This article examines the state takeover of schools in Newark, New Jersey to demonstrate why and how a state government leads an urban education regime. The Newark case illustrates how politics and structural conditions motivated state government to change the nature of the education regime and directly shape education policy at the local level. It highlights the role state government played in reshaping an educator‐centered coalition that operated a poorly performing school district. Despite the existence of a new regime, Newark students’ achievement scores have not significantly improved, and in some instances they have declined under the state‐led regime. This article encourages scholars of city politics to continue to investigate state government's role in urban governing coalitions because state political players maintain the capacity and motivation to join urban regimes.     

Opportunities and Constraints on Mayoral Behavior: A Historical‐Institutional Approach

Abstract A theoretical perspective that situates mayoral behavior within broader patterns of partisan competition is asserted here as a more satisfying explanatory framework for mayoral leadership than rival theories that focus on personality. Behavior is structured by the mayor's relationship toward the regime in power. Mayors are either affiliated or independent of the regime, and regimes are either strong or weak. Four leadership postures result, and case studies are used to demonstrate the robustness of the approach. Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (1954–76) practiced reconstructive politics by modernizing the city's Democrat political machine. Atlanta mayor Andrew Young (1982–90) practiced the politics of articulation by upholding the commitments of the city's African‐American electoral coalition. New York City mayor David Dinkins (1990–93) practiced disjunctive politics when the liberal order to which he was faithful suffered a crisis of legitimacy. Finally, Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich (1977–79) practiced preemptive politics by challenging the robust regime of party regulars and bankers in his city with little success.     

A NEW NEW ORLEANS? UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF HISTORY AND THE STATE–LOCAL RELATIONSHIP IN THE RECOVERY PROCESS

ABSTRACT: Two years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the city still struggles to rebuild and recover. In this article, we examine how deeply rooted historical patterns of state–local conflict reasserted themselves even after the terrible destruction of Katrina and the redemptive promise of a new beginning. We also explain how state government, some city leaders, and most New Orleanians took advantage of the opportunities presented by Hurricane Katrina to change certain aspects of governance in New Orleans. This research highlights the importance of the state–local relationship in understanding urban affairs and the critical nature of historical patterns and their persistence. State–local conflicts over finances, control of local politics, and cultural differences have plagued New Orleans for decades, and they continue to do so in the post‐Katrina era.     

Applying Black Threat Theory,Urban Regime Theory,and Deracialization: The Memphis Mayoral Elections of 1991, 1995, and 1999

Abstract: Until 1991 Memphis was the only major US city with a majority‐black population that had not elected a black mayor. Various explanations, including in‐fighting and competition among black city leaders and citizen aversion to candidates who attempt cross‐racial appeals, have been offered to explain the lack of an elected black mayor of Memphis prior to 1991. We first investigate how Herenton overcame these electoral obstacles to become Memphis’ first elected black mayor in 1991, and then won reelection in two consecutive reelection attempts. We then apply Herenton's campaign strategy and the vote in these elections to several popular theories of voting and election strategy in urban elections—black‐threat theory, urban regime theory, and deracialization. Our findings point to the new trend of biracial coalitions in the urban setting and suggest the importance of reconsidering the traditional theories of racial politics, such as the black threat thesis.     

The role of ‘race’ in the likelihood of city participation in the United States public and section 8 existing housing programmes

Research on US housing and politics provides evidence for persistent racial discrimination, dual housing markets (one for whites and one for blacks in particular) and racial segregation. Research also shows the relationship between government subsidised low‐income housing programmes and continued segregation. This work focuses on an additional aspect of racial discrimination in housing: local officials, capitulating to the housing industry, consider the possible effect government subsidised housing will have on racially segmented markets before entering some programmes. This paper explores the relationship between the size of the black population, as one indicator of the racial composition of a city, and the likelihood of city participation in public housing and Section 8 Existing housing. The quantitative analyses of US cities shows a negative relationship between the size of the black population and the likelihood of city participation in Section 8 Existing housing, a programme that provides participants the possibility of crossing segmented market boundaries. The results also suggest that the relationship between race and public housing is different than that between race and Section 8 Existing housing. Public housing does not necessarily provide participants the opportunity to cross boundaries. Rather it concentrates people, giving local officials more control over the location of poor racial minorities. Finally, the paper argues that the negative relationship between the size of the black population and the likelihood of city participation constitutes yet another form of racial discrimination in housing.     

REGIME BUILDING,INSTITUTION BUILDING: URBAN RENEWAL POLICY IN CHICAGO, 1946–1962

ABSTRACT: Urban regime analysis emphasizes the role of coalition building in creating a capacity to govern in cities. Through a case study of urban renewal policy in postwar Chicago, this article considers the role played by political institutions. Conceptualizing this historical period as one of regime building, I show how existing political institutions were out of sync with the city's new governing agenda of urban renewal and redevelopment following World War II. Creating a capacity to govern in urban renewal policy required both coalition building and a fundamental reworking of formal governing institutions.     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DECISIONMAKING IN A FRAGMENTED POLITY: Convention Center Expansion in Kansas City

ABSTRACT: Amid recent discussions of the shaping of economic development policies by urban governing regimes, little has been said about how these policies are made in cities which lack an effective governing coalition. This paper examines the planning of a major convention center expansion in Kansas City, Missouri, a city with a crumbling governing regime. That planning process does not conform to the work of Peterson or to Stone's model of regime policymaking where economic development policymaking is accomplished with ease. It conforms instead to a hyperpluralistic model wherein social production becomes a difficult and expensive proposition, requiring the building of a coalition on each issue anew. These findings may have broad relevance because many US cities appear to operate without effective governing coalitions.     

The Intergovernmental Regime and Public Policy in Hartford,Connecticut

Regime theorists have not included state government as a member of urban governing coalitions even though governors and state legislatures have the constitutional authority and fiscal resources that can facilitate local governance. In this research, I analyze economic development and education policies in Hartford, Connecticut to illustrate that the governor is a leader of Hartford’s regime. Like other regime actors, the governor provides selective inducements to other coalition members to gain support for his policies. The Hartford regime came to include the governor because the city lost much of its business and political leadership, and management and accountability problems crippled public policy. Because governors have the capacity to act as a powerful regime partner, it is important to study the effect they have on urban governance.     

BLACK CLERGY AND URBAN REGIMES: The Role of Atlanta's Concerned Black Clergy

ABSTRACT: This study examines the involvement of black ministers in urban regimes through a case study of Atlanta's Concerned Black Clergy organization. In the early years of black political leadership, the black clergy were promoters of racial solidarity, oftentimes against the interests of low income residents. With black political leadership secure, the clery emerged as frequent critics of development policies during Andrew Young's years as mayor. More recently, the Concerned Black Clergy have become active regime participants helping to influence policy decisions on behalf of the city's poorer citizens. Through their organizational efforts, the Concerned Black Clergy have become part of the process of regime change in the city.     

REGIONAL GROWTH MANAGEMENT REGIME: The Case of Portland,Oregon

ABSTRACT: Students of regime politics have tacitly agreed that the geographic limits of the regime will be the city limits or, at most, the boundaries of the metropolitan area. This is understandable in light of the fact that much of the regime literature focuses on the politics of urban development, that is, the politics involved in the implementation of growth strategies. However, if a ruling political coalition pursues the objective of achieving a plan of growth management for an entire urban region, environmental, land use, and regulatory considerations come into play that have implications far beyond the city limits. In that case, it becomes essential for the regime to establish a regional political base. In this article, I consider the sources of support for such a regime by focusing on the case of Portland, Oregon. I also consider the implications for regime theory of an urban regime that accepts the daunting challenge of constructing a system of regional growth management, as well as a regime that is not confined to a particular urban area.     

PROGRESSIVE AND SUSTAINED SCHOOL REFORMS: FRAMING AND COALITION BUILDING IN SWISS CITIES

ABSTRACT: Urban politics in the early 21st century is structured by conflicts over social cohesion and economic competitiveness. Education policy takes center stage in this struggle as schools are institutions of both social and economic reproduction. I draw on arguments of urban regime and policy frame analysis to examine the politics of urban school reform in two Swiss cities. Empirically, I analyze neighborhood‐embedded bottom‐up school reforms committed to social cohesion. The paths these reforms eventually take were shaped by different coalitions geared around specific school policy frames. Frames indeed play a crucial role in building a coalition toward progressive school reforms. In addition, their sustainability in a political environment, increasingly shifting toward development policies, hinges on the dominant frame underlying the reforms as well as the properties of the network advancing them.     

Developing Regional Regimes: A Comparison of Two Metropolitan Areas

Abstract: The author relates tenets of urban regime theory to the major elements of new regionalism. He develops a framework of government and private sector structures and factors that facilitate the development of regional governing regimes. He categorizes these structures and elements as high, medium, or low according to the extent to which they facilitate or hinder the development of regional regimes. This framework is used in an analysis of new regionalism in the Pittsburgh and Chicago regions. The author concludes that the Pittsburgh region's private sector regime development capacity is in the high category while its government capacity is in the medium category. The Chicago region's private sector regime development capacity is placed in the medium category while its government sector capacity is judged to be in the low category.     

FOLLOWING THE SIGNS: APPLYING URBAN REGIME ANALYSIS TO A UK CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT: As the debate continues regarding the applicability of urban regime analysis in a UK context, three aspects stand out as highly significant: the target for analysis, the mode of scrutiny, and the context of local governing arrangements with its implications for interdependence as an impetus for co‐operation. This article will examine urban regime analysis and the move from government to governance in order to answer why and how the private, voluntary and public sectors might be inclined to collaborate in regimes. In addition, the regime analysis will provide the parameters for examination whilst the issue of governance will afford context for local governing arrangements. Although some issues require slight reframing to reflect the UK context, the article will follow a rigorous framework for examination utilizing the full weight of regime analysis as articulated by Stone such that it could not be accused of “concept stretching.” Far from it: Through the examination of an informal partnership, a coalition of actors from the public, private, and voluntary sectors that has been in existence for more than 13 years, the article focuses, specifically, on the long‐term, less visible aspects of local governance. As such, it is able to demonstrate how economic and political change can have a tangible effect on the manifestation of interdependence as an impetus for co‐operation, not only for this specific locale but also for other cities facing similar challenges.     

Producing the Capacity to Govern in Global Sydney: A Multiscaled Account

Abstract Critiques of urban regime theory suggest the need for a more nuanced approach to the tangled scalar geographies that constitute urban governance. This article moves towards such an approach by adopting urban regime theory's focus on urban politics but conducts its analyses through a multiscalar lens. It demonstrates how processes operating across multiple scales intersect in the production of local governance. The article focuses on the social production of urban governance in Sydney, Australia, specifically examining the city's changing scalar context and scale politics. It suggests that scale‐sensitive regime analyses can make important contributions to theoretical development concerning the multiscalar complexities of governance.     

REVISITING BLACK ELECTORAL SUCCESS: OAKLAND (CA), 40 YEARS LATER

ABSTRACT: The city of Oakland, California, was one of the case studies Browning, Marshall and Tabb picked in their book Protest Is not Enough (1984) as a significant example of successful liberal black‐and‐white coalitions, leading to strong black incorporation. Yet over the past 40 years, the balance of power has dramatically changed in the city of Oakland. After several decades of experience with African‐American mayors and changing demographics, we need to reflect on the adequacy of this paradigm in light of the contemporary situation. The city once governed by a black mayor with a majority black city council in a traditional white progressive‐black coalition has now become intrinsically multicultural, leading to the election of former Governor Jerry Brown as a Mayor in 1998. Despite Ron Dellums's election in 2006, the black hold and control over the city seems to be more tenuous and fragile than it was 15 years ago. This article raises the question of the future of black urban political power in cities undergoing demographic and political changes. Our main findings are that black urban power in Oakland is still predominantly coalition‐based but involves new coalition partners with the demographic growth and the electoral mobilization of Hispanics and Asians. While the black‐led coalition still relies on white progressive support, this support has weakened, mostly because of the broadening of the progressives' agenda. Finally, the black community seems less likely to vote on pure identity grounds and seems increasingly inclined to vote along issues and interests.     

What's Class Got to Do With It?Community Development and Racial Identity

Abstract: This research documents the importance of class and racial identities to urban community development activities. It explores the symbolic meanings of class and the nature of inter‐class relations within the black community. The research is based on three years of ethnographic fieldwork in a Philadelphia neighborhood with an active grassroots community development agenda. The author concludes that the residents most active in the neighborhood's redevelopment activities display a particular middle‐class identity (“multi‐class”) that links them to lower‐class blacks and structures their vision of the neighborhood as a micro‐level racial justice project. The community development activities in this neighborhood are a product of the multi‐class residents’ attempt to articulate and affirm their racial identity and ideology. However, the unacknowledged class bias of these residents prevents them from creating the type of inclusive Black community that they envision.     

Reconstructing Bronzeville: Racial Nostalgia and Neighborhood Redevelopment

Much of the existing work on heritage tourism emphasizes downtown or citywide tourism development. Yet, an increasing number of African American neighborhoods are using racial heritage tourism to revitalize their long neglected inner‐city neighborhoods. This article examines the use of heritage in black neighborhoods and analyzes its use as a political resource. The development of heritage tourism encourages black communities to construct notions of authentic racial community, which they draw upon to legitimize both the processes of, and their role in, neighborhood redevelopment.     

The Politics of Alternative Economic Development: Revisiting the Stone‐Imbroscio Debate

Abstract: A recent debate between Clarence Stone and David Imbroscio focused on the transformative potential of regime theory. Imbroscio proposes a research agenda for regime theory in which the identification of alternative economic development strategies and ideas figures prominently. Stone questions whether such a shift represents a theoretical advance, arguing that Imbroscio's proposed agenda fails to link ideas with political action. This article seeks to further this debate through a case study of an alternative economic development strategy in Chicago, the Local Industrial Retention Initiative (LIRI). The experience of the LIRI program partially supports Imbroscio's optimism about the regime altering potential of alternative economic development strategies and ideas. However, it also suggests that regime theory's lessons about coalition building are crucial in moving such alternatives forward.     

THE DILEMMAS OF BUILDING A PROGRESSIVE URBAN COALITION: The Linked Development Debate in Chicago

ABSTRACT: In 1983 Chicago elected its first black mayor, Harold Washington. During Washington's first term of office, his administration not only reordered municipal priorities in such a fashion as to benefit his core, minority voting constituency, but also defined a municipal agenda emphasizing greater attention to neighborhood needs and more open government. In 1984 an important neighborhood coalition, the Save Our Neighborhoods/Save Our City Coalition (SON/SOC), proposed a linked development policy to tap downtown investment for neighborhood projects. Although SON/SOC's proposal was compatible with the Washington neighborhood agenda, this mainly white organization and the Washington administration experienced considerable difficulty in forging a mutually acceptable proposal The linked development debate in Chicago demonstrates the salience of race, class-cultural factors, and alternative approaches to neighborhood mobilization as barriers to the development of progressive coalitions in city politics.