Ronald E. Weber and Paul Brace bring together a distinguished team of scholars of state and local government to provide an array of viewpoints on the impact of the major institutional changes that have been taking place over the past three decades. These experts discuss the current status of state and local government practices and identify some of the challenges facing officials today.

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List of Tables and Figures
Preface and Acknowledgments

1. States and Localities Transformed, Ronald E. Weber and Paul Brace
    The Fluid Nature of American Federalism
    Political Reform and the Rise of State Capacity
    The Strengthened Finances of State and Local Governments
    Participatory Democracy in States and Localities
    The Transformation of States and Localities

2. Devolution and Challenge for State and Local Governance, Robert M. Stein
    Why Different Levels of Government Do Different Things
    Empirical Findings
    Avenues for Future Study

3. Governors: Their Heritage and Future, Nelson C. Dometrius
    The Gubernatorial Heritage
    Gubernatorial Policy Roles
    Gubernatorial Policy Arenas
    The Governorship into the Future

4. The Institutionalized Legislature and the Rise of the Antipolitics Era, Paul Brace and Daniel S. Ward
    What Is Legislative Institutionalization?
    Dimensions of Institutional Change in State Legislatures
    Turning Back the Professionalization Tide? Antigovernment Politics in the 1990s
    Looking to the Future

5. Statehouse Bureaucracy: Institutional Consistency in a Changing Environment, Charles Barrilleaux
    The Evolution of Bureaucracy: From Neutral Agent to Participant
    The Size of State Government Employment
    The Quality of State Administration
    Recent Changes in State Government Management

6. State Judicial Politics: Rules, Structures, and the Political Game, Melinda Gann Hall
    State Courts in American Politics
    The Organization and Reform of State Courts

7. The Embattled Mayors and Local Executives, James H. Svara
    Context and Conditions of Mayors and City Managers
    Mayors in Mayor-Council Cities
    Mayors in Council-Manager Cities
    City Managers
    The Challenges Faced by Mayors and City Managers

8. The Resurgent City Councils, Susan MacManus
    The Formal Structure of City Councils
    Roles, Responsibilities, and Citizen Expectations of Council Members
    Problems Today's City Councils Must Address
    Why People Run for City Council
    Why People Don't Run for City Council--Again or Ever!
    Communicating with the Electorate: As Candidate and Council Member
    The Challenge of Serving on a City Council

9. State and Local Parties in a Candidate-Centered Age, John F. Bibby
    The Changing Role of State Parties
    The Political Environment of the States in the 1990s
    The Modern State Party Organization: A Service Agency
    The Governor-State Party Relations
    The Emergence of Legislative Campaign Committees
    Local Parties: Activity at the Grass Roots
    Party Nationalization and the Integration of National and State Party Organizations
    Strengthened State Parties in a Candidate-Centered Era

The Opening Up of State and Local Election Process, Charles S. Bullock III
    Obstacles to Participation
    Districting
    Relationship between Districting and Racial Makeup of Collegial Bodies
    Alternative Electoral Structures
    Runoff Elections
    Easier Access to the Ballot
    Officeholder Diversity

11. Interest Representation in the States, Virginia Gray and David Lowery
    The Origins and Maintenance of Interest Organizations
    Interest Organization Communities
    The Work of Organized Interests
    The Influence of Organized Interests

12. Policy Change in the Ameerican States, Evan J. Ringquist and James C. Garand
    Causes of Policy Change in the States
    Patterns of Change in Expenditure Priorities
    Examples of Policy Change in the States

13. Policy Change in American Cities and Counties, Elaine B. Sharp
    Perspectives on Policy Change
    Spheres of Local Policymaking
    Economic Development Policy Change
    Service Delivery and Privatization: A Mature Innovation
    Policies for the Homeless: Short-Term Cyclical Change

Notes
About the Contributors
Index