Civic Learning on Campus: Bringing Political Science In Mini-Conference III: Local Political Institutions and Citizen Engagement across Cases

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Part of Mini-Conference

• Civic Learning on Campus: Bringing Political Science In Mini-Conference III

Session Description

Differences in local political institutions have led to variation in key aspects of political life across neighborhoods, cities, and counties. Through an investigation of citizen engagement (e.g., public comments and voter turnout) and local political institutions (e.g., municipal incorporation status, administrative boundaries, and organizational structure), this panel explores how various aspects of local governance influence political participation, representation, and equity in policy outcomes within and across cities and unincorporated areas.

Papers on this panel use a range of methods to scrutinize different elements of local governance and citizen engagement in cities across the United States, with an additional example from Brazil. Simko et al. assess how variation in institutional design shapes issue attention at school board meetings in the U.S. by examining public comments, with over 130,000 transcripts and videos spanning a decade. Sahn explores voters’ evaluations of local incumbents (city councilor or mayor) by analyzing public comments about housing project approvals in the U.S. and discusses the electoral implications. Donaghy focuses on another element of housing policy: the impact of local institutions on the ability of community land trusts to incorporate the voices of low-income citizens in cities in the U.S. and Brazil. The final two papers focus on the equity implications of municipal boundaries and political fragmentation in the U.S. Carr and Van Hulle study how municipal boundaries affect equity in land-use, tax, and economic development policy, with a focus in Cook County, Illinois. Trojahn et al. also analyze how city limits – and changes in their boundaries through annexation or municipal underbounding – are associated with demographic change, environmental conditions, and voter turnout, with quantitative and qualitative data from Texas.

The papers on this panel show how local institutional design affects whose voices are heard and represented in – or excluded from – key outcomes such as public service provision, education, housing, infrastructure investment, climate change adaptation measures, land-use, taxes, and economic development policies, with implications for urban politics and civic engagement across the Global North and South.

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Cosponsor

• Division 30: Urban Politics

Individual Presentations

• Issue Attention in US Local Education Policy-Making - Tyler Simko, Harvard University; Rebecca Johnson; Soubhik Barari, Harvard University

• More Bark than Bite: Prospective Threats and Retrospective Views - Alexander Laurence Sahn, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• The Impact of Local Institutions and Organizations on Community Land Trusts - Maureen M. Donaghy, Rutgers University, Camden

• Changing City Limits: How Annexation Shapes Social and Political Outcomes - Kyle Anthony Trojahn, University of Texas, Austin; Sara Constantino, Northeastern University; Alicia Dailey Cooperman, George Washington University; Manuela Muñoz Fuerte, Texas A&M University

• Do Political Boundaries Generate an Inequitable Distribution of Public Goods? - Jered B. Carr, University of Illinois at Chicago; Michael Van Hulle, University of Illinois Chicago

Chair

• Matthew Gabel Washington University in St. Louis

Discussants

• Tyler Simko Harvard University

• Sara Constantino Northeastern University