Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-first Century

by Tyson King-Meadows, Thomas F. Schaller

Overview

Devolution and Black State Legislators examines whether black state legislators can produce qualitative gains in the substantive representation of black interests. Once a battle cry by southern conservatives, "new federalism" has shifted power from Washington to the respective state governments and, ironically, has done so as black state legislators grow in number. Tyson King-Meadows and Thomas F. Schaller look at the debates surrounding black political incorporation, the tradeoffs between substantive and descriptive representation, racial redistricting, and the impact of black legislators on state budgetary politics. They situate contemporary constraints on black state elites as the union of macro- and micro-level forces, which allows for a reconsideration of how the idiosyncrasies of political, economic, and geographic culture converge with the internal dynamics of state legislative processes to produce particular environments. Interviews with black legislators provide valuable insights into how such idiosyncrasies may deprive institutional advancement—committee assignments, chairmanships, and party leadership positions—of the influence it once afforded.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791481929
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Series:	SUNY series in African American Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	302
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Tyson King-Meadows is Assistant Professor and Thomas F. Schaller is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. The State Link in the Chain

2. Race and Representation in State Legislatures

3. The Black Electoral Connection

4. When Identity and Constituency Collide at Roll Call

5. The Institutionalization of Black State Legislative Power

6. Black Legislators, Black Constituents, and the Devolution Revolution

7. Nationalizing Black State Interests

8. Devolutionary Dangers

Appendix A: Underlying Data for Figures 3.2a and 3.2b
Appendix B: Trends in AFDC/TANF Recipient Characteristics
Appendix C: Methods for Reexamining Sticks and Carrots

Notes
Bibliography
Index