The Decline of Urban Politics: Political Theory and the Crisis of the Local State (SAGE Library of Social Research)

The Decline of Urban Politics is a lucidly written discussion of the transformation in local politics in the US since the 1950s. Gottdiener argues that as local politics has become increasingly concerned with managing the quality of local life, residents had to give up more and more political control over their environment to bureaucrats and state agencies. This process has significant implications both for the management of cities and for citizen participation. He evaluates the political theories currently used in urban politics - public choice theory, neo-Marxism, the 'new' political economy and neo-Weberianism. Also evaluated are current theories of the state, with a special emphasis on the local state. Gottdiener's conclusions force us to reevaluate our conventional understanding of local political processes and political theory.Gottdiener, Mark is the author of 'The Decline of Urban Politics: Political Theory and the Crisis of the Local State (SAGE Library of Social Research)', published 1987 under ISBN 9780803927131 and ISBN 0803927134.