Deck 11: Local Leadership and Governance

Question 1

Two predominant theories concerning who runs local communities are

A)elite and community power theories.
B)community power and marketplace theories.
C)elite and pluralist theories.
D)pluralist and hyperpluralist theories.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following features is not found in a strong-mayor city government?

A)Four-year terms with no term limits
B)Extensive appointment and removal powers
C)The mayor shares responsibilities with the council
D)The mayor is elected directly by the voters

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Increased success by blacks in mayoral elections has led some observers to talk of deracialization , or the de-emphasis of race as a campaign issue. Thus, black candidates running for mayor today

A)promote black interests in order to produce high voter turnout and support in the black community.
B)promote civil rights issues and empowerment of all minorities in an effort to attract white voters.
C)use their platform to build the case against racism and seek reparations from those corporate entities that allegedly profited from slavery 150 years ago.
D)tend to focus much more on problem solving, improving education, stimulating economic development, and preventing crime.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Under the condition of hyperpluralism, weak political leadership and a dispersed business elite have resulted because

A)where many interests clash, competing groups cannot form coalitions and the distribution of power tends to be unstable.
B)where few interests clash, competing groups cannot form coalitions and the distribution of power tends to be unstable.
C)where many interests clash, competing groups form stable coalitions.
D)where few interests clash, they are forced to find common ground in opposition to the political leadership.

Question 5

Nonprofit organizations are best described as

A)public governmental organizations that carry out charitable, educational, religious, literary service, or scientific functions.
B)private organizations that carry out charitable, educational, religious, literary, service, or scientific functions.
C)a government agency that returns excess revenue to taxpayers.
D)a key actor in elite theory.

Question 6

The number of women mayors

A)has decreased since 1973.
B)increased to about 9 percent in cities of 30,000 to 50,000 since 1973, but stayed the same in cities with populations greater than 100,000.
C)has stayed about the same since 1973.
D)increased from 2 percent in 1973 to about 21 percent in cities with populations of 30,000 or more as of 2012.

Question 7

In 2012, women held the mayor's office in how many big cities?

A)5
B)12
C)24
D)30

Question 8

According to political scientist Clarence Stone, the concepts of systemic power and strategic advantage explain why community decisions so frequently favor upper-strata interests. Thus,

A)"electoral accountability accounts for upper-class dominance on less visible interests."
B)"electoral accountability helps upper-class interests succeed on highly visible issues."
C)"public officeholders are predisposed to interact with and to favor those who can reciprocate benefits."
D)"systemic power explains why officials are unlikely to decide in favor of upper-class preferences on less visible issues."

Question 9

An examination of a mayor's formal or structural powers can be used to

A)determine whether that office is categorized as a strong or weak one.
B)determine the type of person who will be selected for the office.
C)determine how successful the incumbent will be in getting policies accepted by the council.
D)predict how often the economic elite will succeed in influencing policymaking.

Question 10

Nonprofit organizations play an increasingly critical role in many communities. Which of the entities listed are not among the four types of nonprofits referenced in the text?

A)Civic nonprofits
B)Governing nonprofits
C)Policy implementers
D)Trade associations

Question 11

A majority of members of citizens groups that were surveyed in seven large cities agreed that which of the following was a good description of local politics?

A)Interest groups are active in city politics.
B)Conflict erupts often in the policy area in which this organization is active.
C)Policy area in which this organization is active is marked by consensus.
D)City officials need not worry about interest groups.

Question 12

Leaders that advocate innovative ideas and are the people "who actively seek opportunities for dynamic changes in policy or politics" are considered

A)distributional leaders.
B)jurisdictional leaders.
C)business leaders.
D)entrepreneurial leaders.

Question 13

A reputational approach to studying community power is best described as

A)going into a community and asking informants to name and rank the local leaders.
B)identifying community issues and using various sources, trying to determine who is influential in the decision-making process.
C)participating in the decision process and observing who is influential.
D)avoiding all measures of influence.

Question 14

The theory that a small group of leaders possesses great power and rules society is called

A)hyperpluralist theory.
B)elite theory.
C)pluralist theory.
D)market power theory.

Question 15

Eminent domain is a process whereby a local government can

A)tear down someone's house for unpaid water and sewer bills.
B)assume ownership of land (and pay the current owner a fair price for his property)if the land is to be used for a public purpose.
C)evict a tenant from an apartment for unpaid rent.
D)tell a landlord that it must rent its property to specific commercial tenants to stimulate the local economy.

Question 16

Leaders see problems as opportunities and

A)follow the lead of others.
B)avoid action until they discover evidence of strategies used in other cities faced with their problems.
C)are people who make a difference.
D)are skillful in diffusing criticisms of previously failed efforts.

Question 17

Recent studies reveal that female mayoral candidates

A)face similar challenges to raising money as male candidates.
B)tend to be political novices (few have held prior elected offices).
C)generally view their political environments the same as do male candidates.
D)All of these choices.

Question 18

The theory that holds that power is spread among competing groups whose conflicts produce community decisions is called

A)elite theory.
B)hyperpluralist theory.
C)community power theory.
D)pluralist theory.

Question 19

By 2009, African Americans were mayors

A)in more than 700 cities and towns.
B)in somewhat more than 200 cities.
C)only in major cities where more than 65 percent of the population is black.
D)in fewer cities than Latinos across the country.

Question 20

In cities with a weak-mayor structure,

A)the mayor shares policy responsibilities with the city council and managers; often serving a limited amount of time in office.
B)the mayor is usually elected by an at-large election.
C)the mayor's powers are greater than the term weak mayor suggests. They typically have broad powers over the city council and many formal powers over the municipal bureaucracy.
D)most power resides with the county commissioners because a weak mayor is usually just a figurehead with little influence and few powers.

Question 21

Leadership is not directly related with governance. It does not really make any difference between an effectively functioning government and one that lurches from one crisis to another.

Question 22

Elite theory suggests that multiple open competing groups possess power and rule society.

Question 23

Which of the following became more important as a result of the Progressive era, during which reformers sought to avoid the corrupt and inefficient partisan political machines that controlled many American cities?

A)Strong mayors
B)Ward based elections
C)City managers
D)City councils

Question 24

Local legislatures include city councils, county commissioners, and town boards of aldermen but not school boards, special purpose districts, and authorities.

Question 25

Council members elected by districts report more factionalism and less unanimity than do their counterparts elected at large.

Question 26

The International City/County Management Association (ICMA), the city manager's professional association, says that city managers should

A)avoid efforts to be perceived as too aggressive in developing and setting policy, as initiates should come from the council members or outside interests.
B)play primarily a ministerial and custodial role by following the wishes and demands of the full council and its individual members.
C)respect the strict division between politics and administration.
D)build political capacity so they can assist the elected body in framing community issues because the role of the manager is crucial in helping the governing body function more effectively and, if the governing body is viewed as functioning well, that spills over to the manager as well.

Question 27

Female mayoral candidates experience more difficulties raising money and gaining newspaper endorsements than male candidates.

Question 28

The number of local elected officials who are gay or lesbian has

A)decreased in recent years due to increased discrimination.
B)increased to more than 200 in recent years.
C)increased to more than 500 in recent years.
D)stayed the same.

Question 29

Latinos, the fastest growing segment of American society, have increased their share of elected offices in the same proportion as their growth in population.

Question 30

The penetration of government's domain by private and non-profit economic interests in American communities is deep.

Question 31

Regime refers to the informal arrangements that surround and complement the formal workings of government authority.

Question 32

The increased success of blacks in mayoral elections has led some observers to talk of deracialization , or the de-emphasis of race as a campaign issue to attract white voters.

Question 33

City managers grew in importance as a result of the

A)Ronald Regan era, when governments at all levels were forced to streamline their operations and become managed more like the private sector with professional managers.
B)Jacksonian era (during which reformers sought to offer greater opportunity in government to the common man).
C)Great Society era (during which reformers believed cities could be saved only by the infusion of millions of dollars of federal aid managed by a federal appointee).
D)Progressive era (during which reformers sought to avoid the corrupt and inefficient partisan political machines that controlled many American cities).

Question 34

The new pragmatism among America's big-city mayors can be described as all of the following except

A)seeking benefits for particular neighborhoods based on the race/ethnicity of the mayor.
B)an emphasis on service delivery.
C)an emphasis on balanced budgets.
D)working with the private sector to cure the city's ills.

Question 35

Two considerations define the environment in which public officials operate: electoral accountability (keeping the majority of the public satisfied)and systemic power (the unequal distribution of economic, organizational and social resources).

Question 36

The decisional method is a technique for studying community power in which researchers identify key issues and the individuals who are active in the decision-making process.

Question 37

The reputational approach is a method for studying community power in which researchers ask informants to name and rank influential individuals.

Question 38

Pluralist theory suggests that a small number of people hold a disproportionate amount of political power and therefore rule society.

Question 39

In his famous study of New Haven, Connecticut, Robert Dahl concluded that groups, rather than elites, dominated politics in the city.

Question 40

The terms that project images of leadership in local government circles today include initiative , inventiveness , risk taking , high energy level , persistence , entrepreneurship , innovation , and  vision .

Question 41

City Council members in Chicago are now called councilpersons, having dropped the name 'aldermen' several years ago.

Question 42

Describe the difference between a strong mayor and a weak mayor.  In doing so, compare the different challenges they face and how they might overcome these challenges. Provide some specific examples to illustrate your points.

Question 43

Local governments are becoming more entrepreneurial.

Question 44

The text has a feature, "The Mayor, the City Council, and Walmart...and the Community," about the development of a Walmart store near St. Louis. Describe the basic points of conflict in the story and explain how elite theory, pluralist theory, and regime theory might explain the outcome.

Question 45

​ City councils today are less white, less male, and less passive than they were in the past.

Question 46

Leadership is a central, critical concern in local government.

Question 47

The diversity of American society is increasingly reflected in local communities and their political structures. How are various minority communities gaining political power and, once they do, how are their decisions different than those made by previous councils?

Question 48

Much is being made of a new type of mayor--one that relishes conflict and refuses compromise.

Question 49

City Councils with higher-than-average Latino representation tend to be found in the Southwest and Far West and in larger central cities that use council-manager structures.

Question 50

Given the finite number of council seats in any community and the fact  that more groups are now clamoring for representation, two outcomes are  possible: minority groups may try to build coalitions, or they may opt for a  more independent, competitive approach.

Question 51

Local governments are confronting their problems and challenges by looking to historical solutions, much in the manner that political conservatives do across the nation.

Question 52

Did the decision made in Kelo v. City of New London favorably impact eminent domain for state and local governments, and the public?  Why/why not?

Question 53

Mayors today tend to eschew balanced budgets, choosing to deliver public goods and the votes that follow.

Question 54

Minority representation in local government has risen to near equality with that of whites.

Question 55

Nonprofit organizations have become a major player in the policy-making and service delivery practices of many communities. Who are these nonprofits, how do they become integrally involved in policymaking, and are they any different than large business interests?