"This book's all-star line-up of urban scholars gives readers a heavy dose of reality about the difficulties of gathering data to analyze urban politics and public policy. Readers are alerted to the need to focus on data sources, theoretical underpinnings, time frames, and explanatory variables when engaging in comparative research in the fascinating, fast-paced, complex field of urban politics and policy. Each chapter methodically and comprehensively covers decades of research on a wide range of topics and demonstrates how today's conventional wisdoms may be tomorrow's myths."

--Susan A. MacManus, University of South Florida, Tampa

Publisher Web Site, December, 2002

Just because Milwaukee isn't Manhattan, doesn't mean that those urban centers face completely unique challenges. Through effective comparative analysis of key issues in urban studies--how city managers share power with mayors, how spending policies affect economic development, and how school politics impact education policy--students can clearly see how scholars discern patterns and formulate conclusions to offer theoretical and practical insights from which all cities can benefit.

Pelissero brings together an impressive team of contributors to explore variation among cities through case studies and cross-sectional analyses. Each author synthesizes the field's seminal literature while explaining how urban leaders and their constituents grapple with everything from city council politics to conflict and cooperation among minority groups. Authors identify both key trends and gaps in the scholarship, and help set the research agenda for the years to come. Lively case material will hook your students while the accessible presentation of empirical evidence make this reader the comprehensive and sophisticated text you demand.

Preface

Part I: The Politics of the Urban Environment

1. The Political Environment of Cities in the Twenty-first Century, John P. Pelissero
2. The Intergovernmental Environment, Michael J. Rich
3. Political Participation in Cities,Elaine B. Sharp
4. Urban Racial and Ethnic Politics, Dianne M. Pinderhughes
5. Power and Governance in American Cities, Clarence N. Stone

Part II: Decision-Making Institutions

6. Mayoral Politics, Lana Stein
7. City Councils, Timothy B. Krebs and John P. Pelissero
8. City Managers and the Urban Bureaucracy, Robert E. England

Part III: Policy Outputs and Outcomes

9. The Politics of Revenue and Spending Policies, Robert M. Stein
10. Economic Development Policies, Richard D. Bingham
11. Urban Services, David N. Ammons
12. The New Politics of Urban Schools, Kenneth K. Wong
13. Suburban and Metropolitan Politics, J. Eric Oliver

Index