New York City Politics

A historical view of the development of New York City governmental and non-governmental institutions involved in policy-making, such as the development of Democratic and Republican parties, the impact of immigrant and ethnic groups on City politics, reform movements, and changes in NYC governmental structure over time. It will discuss the relation of policy-making in New York City to New York State and federal decision-making. It will analyze the roles and relative political resources of official actors such as the Mayor, the City Council and other citywide elected officials and of non-governmental political actors such as unions, corporations, business associations, civic and neighborhood associations, etc., in the policy-making process. The role of ethnicity, immigrant status, gender and sexual orientation in terms of access to political resources and influence in policy-making will be discussed. The instructor will use a series of historical and contemporary policy case studies as illustrations. The course may include invited speakers involved in the policy-making process who can discuss some of the case studies used in the course.