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Careers in City Politics: The Case for Urban Democracy. - book reviews

Administrative Science Quarterly, Dec, 1996 by Michael B. Arthur

I looked forward to reviewing this book. Careers, in my view, were the business of all social scientists, and our understanding should improve through dialogue among the disciplines. City politics was an arena I had not explored before. Perhaps the author would show fresh application of ideas that were familiar to me? Or perhaps the subject of his study would be a foundation of new ideas? Either way, I set about my task intrigued.

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Let us begin with a chronological report. In chapter 1, the author makes the case for the importance of city politics and of "careers as barometers of political health." Drawing inspiration from, for example, James March's ideas about improving city organization and John Stuart Mill's thoughts about "the general mental advancement of the community," he argues the merits of focusing on local politics. Moreover, the study to be reported is distinctive in scale and scope from previous efforts. A panel study of 805 city councilors from 1982, re-interviewed in 1987, serves as the basis for the book, in the hope of providing "an important piece of the puzzle" of political careers.

Chapter 2 describes the "career influences" on city councilors through brief notes on city circumstances, including mayor- versus community-centered government forms, partisan versus nonpartisan elections, and the scope and stature of city councils. These are contrasted against principal factors - sex, race, age, income, education, occupation, partisanship, and paths to entry - likely to influence political careers. The stage is set for further chapters to play out.

Chapter 3 focuses on reported reasons to seek local political office. A factor analysis reveals four kinds of motivational dimensions: political (driven by personal ambition) versus apolitical, self-regarding (driven by a cause) versus community regarding, locals (driven by personal relations) versus partisans, and particularists (driven by a cause) versus non-particularists. Further multivariate analysis within each dimension offers re-connection to race, sex, region, and (especially) age descriptors, inviting fuller investigation of the link between personal motivation and emergent careers.

Chapter 4 focuses directly on city council careers, with particular emphasis on the "political learning" they may entail. The book returns to source survey data to unpack the proportions of councilors reelected and the security of their electoral margins. The "representational career" - analogous to the "external career" in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tradition - is explored for the city, neighborhood, business, party, ethnic allegiance, or issue that councilors adopt, and adaptations to office over the five-year survey period are revealed. Bledsoe argues there is an "electoral career cycle" whereby electoral defeat becomes rare in subsequent election races. He suggests that councilors further along the electoral career cycle may be those most likely to promote institutional change.

Chapter 5 moves on to "careerism" as practiced through city council activities, from a standpoint that reasserts the importance of political learning. The author compares "short-termers" (those who give less than five years) versus "long-termers" and offers warning notes on two-year terms of office as well as on term limits, both of which he sees as discouraging careerism. He provides analyses of why people quit and why people fail to be reelected. Chapter conclusions point to attrition of those "unsuitable for local elected office" and a preference for "politicians whose skills have been sharpened by several years of service." Representative government is seen, regrettably, to be largely the business of local elites.

Chapter 6 turns to the extension of political careers beyond the city council. The argument goes that city politics offers a helpful foretaste - especially for working-class or lower-middle-class candidates - of a higher-stakes political game. The author suggests an "ambition theory" of politics that distinguishes the upwardly mobile according to time invested, attentiveness to constituents, and range of constituencies served. He describes upwardly mobile men as "constituent-conscious" in their modest tendencies to oppose new city taxes and propose new federal aid. Meanwhile upwardly mobile women are described as much more dependent on political party sponsorship. The chapter concludes that there is a regrettable "social class" connection that interferes with career success and a need "to strengthen career ladders between municipal office and higher positions."

Chapter 7 offers selective conclusions concerned with the revitalization of cities and the body politic in general through the attraction of strong political talent. The author reminds us that motivation matters in the kind of service councilors provide and that there are multiple emergent differences between male and female politicians. In the author's opinion, "careers are important," since "those who have held one office are generally better suited to take on another office." He judges mayor-led cities and nonpartisan arrangements as problematic, as - emphatically - are two-year terms and term limits. He advocates greater public funding of city politics and salaries as well as the broader goal of "opportunities for citizens to pursue election to office themselves." Democracy, in turn, depends on the creation and sustenance of such career opportunities.

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Careers in City Politics: The Case for Urban Democracy. - book reviews

Administrative Science Quarterly, Dec, 1996 by Michael B. Arthur

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