Urban Politics and Policy-Making in America : A Case Study of Seattle, Washington

Abstract

This article examines the urban politics of policy-making and individual participation in politics at the local government level in the United States with a focus on the Seattle city government. Through my examination I hope to identify crucial determinants of policy in American local governments. The theory of "urban regime" has been regarded as one of the dominant theories for the study of American urban politics. According to this theory, the local government policy is decided by an "urban regime" formed through the cooperation of official actors (the mayor, the council, etc.) and unofficial actors (companies, inhabitants, citizen groups, etc.). This theory has been widely applied as a useful approach for the study and discussion of American urban politics since it appeared in the late 1980s. American local governments have faced financial strains and tumultuous movements such as the "Tea Party" and "Occupy" movements in recent years. In this article I attempt to illustrate whether the urban regime theory can still explain the changes in American urban politics in the rapidly shifting political climate in the US over the last several years. I focus closely Seattle politics to extract examples of the politics of urban policy-making in the US.