State & Local Government in the United States

Earl Fry explores the forces behind the rise of state and local influence in foreign affairs.

This book offers an overview of the legal, political, and broad intergovernmental environment in which relations between local and state units of government take place, the historical roots of the conflict among them, and an analysis of contemporary problems concerning local authority, local revenues, state interventions and takeovers, and the restructuring of local governments. The author pays special attention to local governmental autonomy and the goals and activities of local officials as they seek to secure resources, fend off regulations and interventions, and fight for survival as independent units. He looks at the intergovernmental struggle from the bottom up, but in the process examines a variety of political activities at the state level and the development and effects of several state policies. Berman finds considerable reason to be concerned about the viability and future of meaningful local government.

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This book introduces students to the complex landscape of state-local intergovernmental relations today. Each chapter illustrates conflict and cooperation for policy problems including the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental regulation, marijuana regulation, and government management capacity. The contributors, leading experts in the field, help students enhance their understanding of the importance of state-local relations in the U.S. federal system, argue for better analysis of the consequences of state-local relations for the quality of policy outcomes, and introduce them to public service career opportunities in state and local government.

Excerpt from State and Municipal Government in the United States In spite of the importance and interest of international and national questions of policy and in spite of the rapidly widening sphere of federal legislation and administration the life of an American citizen is affected more often by the agencies of local government than by those of the national government. Under the protection of the Federal Constitution the life and property of the citizen are governed and protected by state, not federal, laws. In his political capacity the citizen takes part in both the federal and the local government in accordance with state regulations. Acting under the state laws are the particular political units in which the citizen may reside - the county, city, or town. To the authorities of these the citizen most fre quently looks for governmental support and regulation. Yet these local bodies are distinctly subordinate to and created by the authority of the state and are supervised and regulated by it. It is the purpose of this book to discuss the organization, the distribution of powers and functions, and the operation of these agencies of local government. Other books have dealt with state government and state administration or with munici pal government and municipal administration, but this book covers both state and municipal government, treating the two as a single manifestation of local government. With this in mind the book has been divided into five parts. In Part I the federal system and the state constitutions as the fundamental basis of local government are discussed. Part II deals with the political system - the electorate in theory and in action, in primaries, in election campaigns, and in its direct action in the use of the initiative, referendum, and recall. Part III deals with state government - the different organs and the functions which these organs perform. State administration, which is rapidly being extended both directly and through the supervisory power of the state, is discussed in its various manifestations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.