Explaining U.S. Urban Regimes: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

The author studies the influence of city context on urban regimes across 14 cities in the United States by surveying published case studies & applying qualitative comparative analysis. To explain variation in a regime typology, the author tests components of market conditions (a city's fiscal resource base & mobility of local capital) & democratic conditions (local civic participation & ward-style representation). The results indicate that not one of these components is necessary or sufficient for supporting the emergence of a more progressive, as opposed to a developmental or caretaker, regime. Instead, three interactions between the components of market & democratic conditions explain the presence of progressive regimes. The author discusses the implications of the results for both studying & understanding U.S. regimes. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix, 63 References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2004.]