Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-first Century

King-meadows, Tyson

ISBN 10: 0791467295 / ISBN 13: 9780791467299

Published by State University of New York Press, 2006

About this Item

2006. Illustrated. hardcover. . . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780791467299

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-first Century
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791467295
• ISBN 13: 9780791467299
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Devolution and Black State Legislators examines whether black state legislators can produce qualitative gains in the substantive representation of black interests. Once a battle cry by southern conservatives, "new federalism" has shifted power from Washington to the respective state governments and, ironically, has done so as black state legislators grow in number. Tyson King-Meadows and Thomas F. Schaller look at the debates surrounding black political incorporation, the tradeoffs between substantive and descriptive representation, racial redistricting, and the impact of black legislators on state budgetary politics. They situate contemporary constraints on black state elites as the union of macro- and micro-level forces, which allows for a reconsideration of how the idiosyncrasies of political, economic, and geographic culture converge with the internal dynamics of state legislative processes to produce particular environments. Interviews with black legislators provide valuable insights into how such idiosyncrasies may deprive institutional advancement—committee assignments, chairmanships, and party leadership positions—of the influence it once afforded.

About the Author

Tyson King-Meadows is Assistant Professor and Thomas F. Schaller is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.