Culture Wars and Local Politics / Edition 1

by Elaine B. Sharp

Overview

"Culture wars" have turned American communities into ideological battlegrounds. When issues like gay rights, needle exchange programs, abortion clinic protests, and hate crime are at stake, the response of citizens is likely to be strong—and that of local governments is likely to be unpredictable.

This collection provides alternative explanations of local actions with a focus on current conflict. A team of prominent scholars in urban politics examines how local governments handle morality-based issues: whether they evade controversies or instigate them, enact policies responsive to activist pressure or repress protests calling for change.

Culture Wars and Local Politics features examples of actual experiences in selected cities, differing in community culture and size, from New York to San Francisco, Denver to Greenville, South Carolina. The contributors examine how the responses of local government to specific issues are influenced by such factors as political culture and institutions, belief systems of public officials, and a city's niche in intergovernmental relations or national social movements.

Because culture wars represent more than just politics-as-usual, most theory related to urban politics doesn't necessarily apply. Departing from typical economic approaches to urban problems, this collection develops a perspective that draws on cultural analysis, the new institutionalism, feminism, social movement theory, and regime theory. It breaks new ground by challenging the comprehensiveness of existing treatments of urban politics, with each of the chapters contributing to a theoretical synthesis.

How local governments handle these volatile issues has major implications for civil liberties, preventing violence and the development or erosion of public trust. By providing a multi-topical approach focused at the local level, this book offers an excellent source for triggering both student discussion and citizen awareness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700609369
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	03/05/1999
Series:	Studies in Government and Public Policy
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction, Elaine B. Sharp

2. Abortion Conflicts and City Governments: Negotiating Coexistence in South Carolina, Laura R. Woliver

3. Ideas, Interests, and Institutions Shaping Abortion Politics in Denver, Susan E. Clarke

4. Regime Change and Gay and Lesbian Politics in Four New York Cities, Donald B. Rosenthal

5.The Politics of Gay Rights Legislation, James W. Button, Kenneth D. Wald, and Barbara A. Rienzo

6. Conflicts over Sexual Orientation Issues in the Schools, Barbara A. Rienzo, James W. Button, and Kenneth D. Wald

7. San Franciso and Domestic Partners: New Fields of Battle in the Culture War, Richard DeLeon

8. Values in Conflict: Local Government Response to Hate Crime, Donald P. Haider-Markel and Sean P. O'Brien

9. Fred Phelps versus Topeka, Rick Musser

10. The Politics of Needle Exchange, David L. Kirp and Ronald Bayer

11. Moral Principles of Local Officials and the Resolution of Culture War Issues, Paul Schumaker

12. Conclusion, Elaine B. Sharp

List of Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

"A timely and lively discussion of local politics and policy in the grips of social movements that surround highly controversial issues."—American Review of Politics

"An excellent collection of essays, with case studies, on local ‘morality politics’—that is, on how local governments in the United States deal with such matters as abortion, gay and lesbian issues, drugs, and hate crimes. Not much systematic information is available on how local governments handle morality politics. Culture Wars and Local Politics cuts new ground in a field of growing importance."—Perspectives on Political Science

"No longer the mundane domain of ‘pothole politics,’ local governments have become high-profile battlegrounds over abortion rights, sexual orientation, condom distribution, needle exchange, and hate crimes. This pathbreaking volume offers important theoretical analyses and case studies of how today’s culture wars are reshaping the terrain of local politics."—Steven P. Erie, author of Rainbow’s End: Irish-Americans and the Dilemmas of Urban Machine Politics

"A much needed, overdue book on a topic of immense importance. This superb collection demonstrates that the emotionally charged issues of gender, sexual orientation, and family values have become central to local politics in America. It puts new life into that well-worn phrase, ‘All politics is local,’ by prompting us to add ‘and all local politics is personal.’"—Dennis Judd, coauthor of City Politics: Private Power and Public Policy

"An impressive attempt to build a rigorous theory about how governments respond on highly conflictual morality issues."—Kenneth J. Meier, author of The Politics of Sin: Drugs, Alcohol, and Public Policy

From the Publisher

Looks at how local governments handle morality-based issues such as gay rights, needle exchange programs, abortion clinic protests, and hate crimes, describing experiences in cities differing in community culture and size, from San Francisco to Greenville, South Carolina. Examines how responses by local governments to specific issues are influenced by factors such as political culture and institutions, belief systems of public officials, and a city's niche in intergovernmental relations or national social movements. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews