Table of Contents

1. New Directions for State and Local Governments.
2. Federalism and the States: Sorting Out Roles and Responsibilities.
3. State Constitutions: The Fundamental Rules of State Government.
4. Citizen Participation and Elections.
5. Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Campaigns.
6. State Legislatures.
7. Governors: Power, Politics and Executive Leadership.
8. Public Administration: Budgeting and Service Delivery.
9. The Judiciary: Independence vs. Accountability.
10. The Structure of Local Government.
11. Local Leadership and Governance.
12. State & Local Relations.
13. Taxing and Spending.
14. Economic Development.
15. Education Policy: Reading, Writing and Reform.
16. Criminal Justice: Cops and Corrections.
17. Social Welfare and Health Care Policy: Addressing Poverty and Sickness.
18. Environmental Policy.

About the Author

Richard C. Kearney retired as professor of political science and public administration at North Carolina State University. His career also included lengthy teaching, research and administrative responsibilities at East Carolina University, the University of Connecticut and the University of South Carolina. Dr. Kearney's research interests include comparative state politics and policy, labor relations and human resource management policy, and he has published prolifically on these and related topics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Raleigh and Beaufort, North Carolina. Ann O'M. Bowman is a professor and holder of the Hazel Davis and Robert Kennedy Endowed Chair in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, where she teaches courses in state and local politics and policy, intergovernmental relations, environmental policy and management, and public policy process. Her research interests revolve around questions of institutional change, policy adoption and implementation, and intergovernmental dynamics, and she has published numerous books and articles on these topics. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida.