The challenge of our declining big cities

Abstract

This article describes the population forces that caused U.S. metropolitan areas to grow rapidly after 1940 but caused falling population in many large older cities. It shows why the basic processes that generated the spatial growth and development of American metropolitan areas have also undermined the fiscal strength of many older central cities and inner‐ring suburbs. By concentrating low‐income households in inner‐core neighborhoods, these processes create undesirable conditions that motivate economically viable households and firms to move to surrounding suburbs and not move back.

Three strategies have been suggested for improving these conditions: major structural reform of metropolitan institutions, limited reform of big‐city governments, and community development of inner‐core areas. The first is the most capable of changing the dynamics causing decline, but it lacks political support because it would require the majority of metropolitan residents to sacrifice some benefits they gain from existing arrangements.     

Differential patterns of partner-to-woman violence: A comparison of samples of community,alcohol-abusing,and battered women

This paper compared a sample of women in treatment for alcoholism (N = 45) with a randomly selected sample of women from the local community (N = 40), and a sample of women receiving services for victimization by severe partner violence (N = 38). Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) items were dichotomized into low frequency of partner violence (twice per year or less) and high frequency of violence (once per month or more), and then summed to yield separate low frequency and high frequency scores for each CTS subscale. Results showed that at the high frequency level, battered women reported the highest scores on each subscale, alcoholic women the second highest, and the community sample of women reported the lowest level of violence. A multiple regression analysis revealed that being in the alcoholic sample significantly predicted high frequency negative verbal interaction and moderate violence, controlling for presence of a partner with alcohol-related problems and demographic differences among the samples.     

Pariahs in their midst: Belgian and Norwegian parties react to extremist threats

In a country where neocorporatist patterns are not well developed in the labour sector, the major French teachers' union, the Fédération de l'Education Nationale (FEN), enjoys unusual advantages of mass membership, extensive delegated administrative powers and established access to a sympathetic government. And yet French education under socialist leadership has been marked by intense conflict. The experience of the FEN illustrates some of the conditions of neocorporatism. Hampered by its internal divisions over interests and ideology, by external competition from private schools and rival groups at the secondary and university levels, and by its own fears of co‐optation, the FEN has been more effective at retarding than at shaping educational reform.     

Constructing a New Scottish parliament for the ‘Europe of regions’: Can institutional engineering assure subsidiarity?

The creation of an elected parliament in Scotland raises questions for legislative scholars, among them how a parliamentary body representing a stateless nation within a member state of the European Union can influence and implement European legislation. One version of the ‘principle of subsidiarity’ states that decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen, encouraging assemblies throughout the EU to articulate and implement their own preferences in key policy areas. Reporting findings from a survey of the Scottish parliament's first cohort of legislators, this article identifies conflicting perceptions of subsidiarity, charts how best to pursue it, and evaluates the institutional norms, rules and procedures put in place to help secure it. Data demonstrate that preferences vary by level of MSP knowledge about European policy, by party membership and by method of election. Low levels of legislator knowledge combined with internal divisiveness constitute barriers to institutional strength in the pursuit of subsidiarity.     

Accountability Payoffs in Federal Systems? Competing Logics and Evidence from Europe's Newest Federation

Accountability has gained considerable currency in discourseon democratic representation, especially for heterogeneous societieshaving multilevel governance. Because federalism endows politicalsystems with a range of institutional mechanisms for incorporatingregional identities, building consensus, and protecting minorityinterests, a frequent contention is that it enhances democraticaccountability. This article explores the relationship betweenfederalism and accountability on three levels: (1) conceptualdistinctions; (2) federation/non-federation comparisons; and(3) comparisons among federal variants. Federal/unitary comparisonsreveal the limitations of a narrow interpretation of federalismas constitutionalism, with its presumption of federation asa guarantor of accountability. Comparing across federations,variation in accountability depends as much on the rules-in-useas it does on the constitution-in-form. The difficulties inherentin linking federalism with clear payoffs in terms of institutionaland individual accountability are illustrated by developmentsin Western Europe's newest federation: Belgium.     

Federalism achieved: The Belgian elections of may 1995

The general election held on 21 May 1995 crowned Belgium's much heralded and long awaited federalisation, for the first time applying a recently reformed constitution's blueprint for national, regional and linguistic community governance. By Belgian standards, the event was an exceptional exercise in democracy: 6.3 million voters chose representatives to a new and much smaller Chamber of Representatives, a refashioned Federal Senate, three autonomous regional parliaments (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels‐Capital), and a Community Council for the country's German‐speaking population. The result was an astounding reprieve for two scandal‐plagued Socialist parties and a deliverance from electoral disaster for Jean‐Luc Dehaene's centre‐left coalition government.     

Policy directions concerning racial discrimination in U.S. housing markets

Abstract

This paper presents a catalog of 34 different proposed research and direct action policies aimed at futhering the two basic goals of public antidiscrimination policies: (1) ending unequal treatment of households in housing transactions because of their race or ethnicity, and (2) counteracting existing racial residential segregation by promoting stable racial integration. These 34 proposals have been derived from the many papers in this volume, plus a few suggestions by the author.

Each proposal is evaluated against five specific criteria of desirability: potential effectiveness, government costs, private‐sector costs, ease of implementation, and political feasibility. A final overall evaluation of each is made, and all policies are divided into three priority categories: high, moderate, and low. Many recommended policies are synergistic. This whole effort should have very high overall priority in American social policy.