POLS 200-01, Urban Politics, Spring 2008

Abstract

This course poses the normative questions: “Who should make decisions about urban politics?”; “To what extent should the public be involved in setting the agenda for urban decision making?” and; “What responsibilities and goals should urban governments take on?” We also consider how larger political and economic forces shape the parameters of urban politics. The course is divided into four sections that shed light on these questions. The first section of the course is designed to give students a foundation in the evolution of cities including their role in the federal system. The second section examines the institutional arrangements that shape decision-making in U.S. cities and Memphis, in particular. In the third section, we consider the competing theoretical models that explain how decision making actually works in U.S. cities. The final section of the course analyzes Memphis politics, particularly the politics of race and reform, through the lens of the campaigns and elections of Memphis Mayor W.W. Herenton. The goal is to understand how political alliances, “ideas,” institutional arrangements and larger historical forces facilitate and constrain decision making in the 20th and 21st centuries.