Interest Groups in U.S. Local Politics

Interest group scholarship has so far focused mainly on national politics and has had very little to say about interest groups in American cities, counties, school districts, and special districts. This special issue is a step toward remedying that: it is a collection of articles and essays that examine some of the interest groups that are commonly active in US local politics. The contributions herein discuss real estate developers, tenant organizations, teachers' unions, police unions, and local PACscovering topics such as how they are organized, how they engage in local politics, some of the constraints on their influence, and the nuanced ways in which ideology and identities can sometimes shape what coalitions are possible in the local context. By bringing this work together in one place, in a journal devoted to research on interest groups, the hope is that this special issue will help to cement interest groups in local politics as the recognizable research focus it deserves to be.

Demonstrates that interest groups are highly active in local politics and have an impact on political outcomes Builds a foundation for future research on local interest groups Fills a gap in interest group scholarship, which has mainly focused on national politics until now

Autorentext

Sarah Anzia is Associate Professor of Public Policy & Political Science at University of California Berkeley, USA.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Interest groups in US local politics: Introduction to the special issue.- Chapter 2: Developing a pro-housing movement? Public distrust of developers, fractured coalitions, and the challenges of measuring political power.- Chapter 3: Politics, power, and precarity: how tenant organizations transform local political life.- Chapter 4: Teachers' unions and school board elections: a reassessment.- Chapter 5: Interest groups, local politics, and police unions.- Chapter 6: PACs rule everything around me: how political action committees shape elections and policy in the local context.- Chapter 7: The age of urban advocacy.