ipl-logo

American Local Government

925 Words4 Pages

We all embark to choose the governing body for our municipality. This choice will affect the everyday livelihood of every generation represented in its population as well as future generations. We must review the historical facts and be attentive to historical patterns that repeat. I believe if you have an open mind, you can make correct choices, when establishing the type of governing body for your municipality. This is important for not only your wellbeing, but also for the rest of the community. Keep in mind, all together we call this “our home”. The emergence of American local government coincided with the birth of American federal government under the United States Constitution in 1789. Even though American city government already existed …show more content…

However, a different perspective existed in local government. Local governments leaned toward ideas captured in Tocqueville’s classic work: Tocqueville 2000. His book was originally published in 1835 and lauds the American local government system for its democratic values, but encourages towns to embody “local-self-government.” Thus, Tocqueville 2000 considers local government the foundation of all free republican government and the protection of the minority rights, regardless of their political party. After recognizing the critical role of local government in the US administrative state, Griffith and Adrian 1938 documents the emergence and evolution of early local governments. Based on the previous work, Adrian 1987 explains the transformation of local governments took place from 1920 to 1945. (“Retrieved from …show more content…

Mayor-council governments generally feature an elected executive officer called a mayor and an elected legislative body. The elected legislated body is most often known as the city council. Today, most if not all, municipalities exemplify this form of governing. In a mayor-council government, the mayor and city council work together to balance and pass a budget, draft and enforce legislation, oversee city departments and appoint departmental heads. But the dynamics of how the mayor and city council work together depend on the type of mayor-council government that a city uses. (“Https://ballotpedia.org/Mayor-council government”) One of the major downfalls of this type of governing is the use of power and control. This effectiveness of Mayor -council government is dependent on its strength as a team. Our future should not be obliged to not take this

Show More
Related

The Constitutional Convention: The Three-Fifths Compromise

1152 Words | 5 Pages

In the early years, after winning independence from Great Britain, the American colonies set up their government in accordance with their first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. This means that the majority of the power laid in the hands of the states and Congress, “the only institution of national authority” (Brinkley 151) at that time, had very little power. This distribution of authority was the manifestation of the American’s fear of a strong, central government. However, as time passed, more and more people came to agree that the national government was too weak and needed to be strengthened.

Read More

The Similarities And Difference Between A Council-Manager Or Mayor-Council Government

273 Words | 2 Pages

It is common to see either a council- manager or mayor-council government in populated cities. Generally, these two commonly used forms of government greatly differ in terms of structure. The mayor-council government is commonly used in large cities New York and Chicago and certain of the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. The council- manager government is common among in southwest cities such Phoenix, San Antonio, and Las Vegas. Cities usually have a population size of ten thousand or more commonly use the council- manager form of government (NLC.org, 2017).

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Dual Federalism

1106 Words | 5 Pages

Interactions amid the provinces and the federal government, from constitutional issues to the most irresistible topics bang up-to-date in the country, are indemnified beneath the umbrella of “Federalism”. Authorities are shared so that on some matters, the state governments are decision-holders, whereas on the other matters, national government grasps the autonomy. In last twenty-five years, the upsurge of federal fiats on both governments, local and state, has shifted the power amongst state and national governments. Now, the national government is beginning to have more governance over the state’s engagements.

Read More

Observations To The Royal Court At Versailles Analysis

1421 Words | 6 Pages

Pour les cours royales à Versailles à l'égard du royaume de France, During my stay in this foreign land I have come across an intriguing set of content in their local newspaper. Within the pages of The Federalist several concepts are discussed that seem to me to be quite revolutionary. A counter to the argument that no single system of government could possibly

Read More

The Last Hurrah Analysis

691 Words | 3 Pages

The Last Hurrah, a film directed by John Ford in 1958, illustrates the story of Frank Skeffington, an iron-fisted Irish American who rose from poverty, as the mayor of an unnamed New England city during the Golden Age of political machines and bossism. He represents the last generation of grassroots politicians that are replaced by younger candidates with the rise of media in politics. The film directly addresses and dissects urban machine politics in terms of representation and governance in political machines as well as other political institutions before and after the rise of televised campaigning. The film sheds light on many different aspects of local and urban politics while illustrating how the transformation and rising forces of new

Read More

Federal Government Dbq

784 Words | 4 Pages

The writers of the U.S. Constitution were determined not to let a person get complete control over the new American Government. When a person gets complete control over the government it is called tyranny. If the central government had all of the power, the states would have no individual rights. In the city of Philadelphia, in 1787, some changes needed to be made in the American government. In order for the U.S. Constitution to stay away from tyranny, there were numerous amounts of obligations that needed to be met.

Read More

Summary Of If Mayors Ruled The World By Benjamin Barber

1373 Words | 6 Pages

In “If Mayors Ruled the World,” Benjamin Barber argues that the present-day nation-state has become obsolete in overcoming the increasingly complex and problematic hurdles that the world is currently facing (Derbyshire, 2013; Florida, 2012). Furthermore, that because citizens are more enthusiastic about participating in local government and because the municipal process is more spontaneous and less politically divisive, it is truly the mayors of local government who should be calling the shots when it comes to national and international issues such as terrorism, drugs, and poverty. Barber (2013) entertains the notion that nation-states have become too large for their own good—producing a government that is not only out of touch with the people that it represents, but a government that discourages citizens from participating in the political process. This work makes an extremely compelling argument for a bottom-up style of governing, citing numerous

Read More

Custom Resources For Political Science-California Government And Politics

1025 Words | 5 Pages

The national, provincial and local levels of government all have legislative and executive authority in their own spheres, and are defined in the Constitution as "distinctive, interdependent and interrelated". The government consist not only of the executive, judicial, and legislative but also consist of government clusters, Clusters were established to foster an integrated approach to governance that is aimed at improving government's planning, decision-making and service delivery; the main objective is to ensure proper coordination of all government programmes at national and provincial levels, Infrastructure Development Cluster, and other parts to their government.6 This amount of people in office makes it much easier for people to be able to communication with the government on internal affairs within the country while also helping the government inform the people as well. With the government running smoothly and no bias in internet, other than personal opinions, the country has time to focus on other matters. These other matters are to make the country a more easier place to live such as fixing the energy shortages in the

Read More

The Four Types Of Government In Texas

663 Words | 3 Pages

Local governments are most favorable by citizens because the easy access and control by people who are involved. You can call local government official in general and may personally know them. Local government is the most common government exist in the society. Definition for local government is a form of public administration which in a majority of contexts exists as the lowest tier of administration within a given state. Local government’s objective is to effectually use of land to product robust and complex ecosystems.

Read More

Children In The Progressive Era

1124 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout human history, children were thought of as servants, apprentices, or a means to ease workload. Children would work on the family farm or a family business. They could be easily taken advantage of compared to adults. The exploitation of children for labor without concern for their education or welfare was common and even the norm. No special concern about children existed.

Read More

What Is The Role Of The Federal Government In The United States During The Great Depression?

413 Words | 2 Pages

Then they could possibly become a threat to us and other nations. (4 points) Score Briefly describe the powers and typical actions of a municipal government.

Read More

The Failure Of Leadership In Machiavelli's The Prince

981 Words | 4 Pages

After observing the American democracy, Tocqueville is able to create ways to combat the issues he witnessed and design a stronger democracy. Associations reduce the effects of individualism. By forming associations with others, citizens are able to gain power to combat big government. They also stimulate new thoughts, new ideas, and political involvement. Other options that he believes would create a better functioning democracy are strong local governments, freedom of association, and an independent judiciary system.

Read More

Summary Of Democracy In America By Alexis De Tocqueville

1052 Words | 5 Pages

In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville provides an analysis and critique of American civic life. During his travels across the country, he discovered how different America was from Europe, particularly France. While the majority of Europe consisted of aristocratic countries with hundreds of years of history, America was a young democratic country. Most notably, he observed that America was growing in equality. The growing equality becomes a presupposition of individualism and isolation, but despite this inevitable growth of equality, individualism and isolation can be minimized.

Read More

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Parliamentary Government

944 Words | 4 Pages

Parliamentarism, or a parliamentary government, is defined “as a system of government in which the executive, the government, is chosen by and is responsible to…the legislature.” (Gerring, Thacker and Moreno, 2005, p. 15) With this form of governmental control, many advantages and disadvantages arise, especially when this system is compared to the likes of ‘Presidential systems’ or even that of ‘Semi-presidential systems’. However, my aim within this essay is to, both, highlight to advantages of parliamentarism, and to also give my opinion as to why this system is better when compared and contrasted with the aforementioned systems. According to Hague and Harrop (2007, p. 336), there are three different branches relating to the parliamentary system. Firstly, the legislature and the executive are “originally linked”.

Read More

Urban Regeneration In China

833 Words | 4 Pages

Urban regeneration in China has become a vast topic and has drawn attention worldwide. But, first what is urban regeneration? Urban regeneration entails the demolition of structures, relocation of people and businesses and the use of resumption or eminent domain (government purchase of property for public purpose) as a constitutional mechanism to take private property for city-sponsored development projects. It includes the renewal of rural areas and result in urban sprawls and help deal with overpopulation or traffic jams as an example. Throughout this paper I will explain my understanding of some critical issues in China’s recent urban regeneration policies that include the cause and effect of communities, and their residents economic

Read More

More about American Local Government

Open Document