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67 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Default unit of government; important function |
County; Administer elections |
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How many local governments? |
90,000 |
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General Purpose Local Governments |
Provide General Services Municipalities, counties |
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How many counties in US? Alt. names? |
3,000; Borough & Parish |
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Every mile outside of ____ has local government |
DC; provides gov where no other does |
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Counties were established to _? |
Serve as administrative unit; Raise revenue and use coercive force |
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Counties are typically established _______ |
geographically |
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Counties are _________ Institutions; arranged ________ |
Exogenous; Traditionally |
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Describe the 3 branches of local government |
Leg- Commissioner; Council (shrink in size from East to West) Exec-Series of independently elected officials Judi-Elected Judges, no formal law background, partisan |
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Texas Names for Local government |
Leg- County's Commissioner Court Exec-County Judge Judi- Justice of the Peace |
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Counties are responsible for record keeping, carrying out regulation |
Counties are primary law enforcement; enterprise |
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Municipality |
General purpose local gov Area of incorporated space Meant to collect revenue and enforce contracts Municipal board is CEO and board of directors |
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Tiebout and Municipalities |
Municipalities compete for trade |
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Today's Municipality |
Citizenship attached to residency Elected council members Direct election of Mayors Unicameral |
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Local Courts |
Justice of the Peace; Elected, partisan, doesn't need law background |
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Local Legislature in municipalities |
Shift in focus from business to public services Urban: Incorporated, population over 2,500 |
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Timeline of Machines |
1840's Impact starts 1920's Peak impact 1930s Loses impact But still has impact to some degree |
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Basis of Machines |
1) Single Leader/Unified Board 2) Party Control of ballot access 3) Loyalty secured through solitary&material benefits 4) Non-ideological; Win Elections |
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Who were machines liked by? Disliked? |
Masses of lower class; disliked by elites |
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Tammany Hall; _______ Power |
Boss Tweed; NY; Informal Power |
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Rise of the Machine |
1) Unified Government-No checks/balances 2) Ward-Based Elections-Give more power to ethnic microcosms 3) Weak Mayor System-No formal power 4) Long Ballot- Increase reliance on party label 5) Patronage-Spoils system |
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Graft |
Reward for supporting a politician; corruption |
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What type of jobs programs did machines favor? |
Large, costly labor intensive and materials intensive Publics works and Infrastructure |
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_______ was in response to machines |
Reform; Social movement |
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Parr Machine in Duval County
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Informal power; Unite voters off solidarity of ethnicity |
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Machines are ______ locally while ______ at bigger stages |
stronger; weaker |
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Main downfall of machines |
Victim of success; 2nd and 3rd generation no longer need it (corrupt, expensive) |
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Reform Institutions: Elections & Executive Power |
1) Change election to non-partisan 2) Primary elections 3) Short Ballot 4) At-Large Elections 5) Strong Mayor (adds accountability) 6) Council Manager 7) Galveston Plan (assigned functions to commissioners) |
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Reform Institutions: Direct Democracy, Civil Service, Special Districts |
DD: Initiative, Recall, Referendum CS: Merit based Special District: School Board, similar to council manager system |
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Why do reformers like special districts? |
Weakens machine -Non partisan -Led by professionals |
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Can special districts issue bonds? |
Yes, and at a low interest |
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Functioning of special district |
Not beholden to majority; technocratic lead by a small group of involved individuals "Quiet" Politics |
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Ward-Based elections typically target _________ policy |
Geographic |
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Teodoro-Water Hogs and elections |
At large election area is more water conservative |
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Athletic budgets |
Small group of motivated individuals determine good for athletes, detracts from whole student population
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Suburban area refers to __________ |
Land-use; Fewer people per sq mi Dispersed downtown Single Family Housing |
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What drove suburbanization? |
Improvements in: -Housing -Infrastructure -Tele communications |
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Development subsidies |
Highway construction New Infrastructure |
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Housing Subsidies |
Mortgage lower for single family houses |
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Telecommunication subsidies |
Telephone lines and taxes |
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Most suburbs are governed by _______ |
Counties (unincorporated) |
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Annexation |
Nearby urban area claims area |
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Incorporation |
New general purpose government is established |
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Municipal governments have huge influence on _______-_____ |
land-use |
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Most states annexation |
Petition by landowners to annex, local residents vote; city members have no say (represented by city council) |
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Incorporation process |
Land owners petition state Local residents vote in special election People in outside area have no say |
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Why would someone want annexation vs
incorporation? |
Annexation-Want city service Incorporation- Land use |
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Texas Exceptionalism on Annexation |
Any city over 5,000 can annex outside area Those being annexed can't prevent it |
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Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Act (1963) |
Urban area over 5,000 can annex |
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Is it easier to be annexed or incorporate in TX? |
Annex; Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Act Incorporation must go thru state (busy when meeting) |
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Balkanization |
Political fragmentation of geographic area into many jurisdictions |
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Result of balkanization |
Compete for resources Split ethnically and socio-economically |
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What must a Public Good be? |
Non-rivalable Non-excludable |
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Tocqueville on Balance of issues in America |
Balance between Equality and Freedom Strive for balance but freedom is maintained thru the participation in local government |
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Tocqueville on Religion |
Works well in America because there is a separation of church and state People willingly accept moral compass of bible |
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Tocqueville on Decentralization |
The inability of one person/group to completely dominate an area of power has created system of checks and balances Retains balance between equality and freedom |
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Tocqueville on Legislature |
Has a huge responsibility Has the power to corrupt this power balance People must be active in putting forth people who represent majority |
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Size of Districts East to West |
Larger; but East has more representative per district typically |
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Tocqueville on relationship between freedom and self governance |
Self governance occurs because freedom prompts people to participate Serve their own good as well as general |
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When states restrict local governments ______ special governments are created. |
More; similarly when there is less restriction there is less special districts IV: State restrictions Dependent Variable: Number of districts |
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There has been an ________ in special districts over the past few decades. |
explosion; TX leads |
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A strong county government can do what? |
Provide services that typically would require a special district |
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Where do political machines still exist today? |
Places where there are large blocs of people to do better off Chicago; still integrates immigrants very effectively into machine politics |
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Type of Government Study |
IV: Population demographics DV: Type of government West & South less likely due to voter restrictions North and East more likely due to strong party ties and high turnout |
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American government is effective and allows freedom to perpetuate because it is __________ |
Decentralized; no one group has alllllll the power |
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Consolidated vs Fragmented Government Result |
Consolidated: Effective Fragmented: Cheap |
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1st right in Texas Bill of Rights |
Right to self-governance |
