The Origins of Urban Political Machines in the United States: A Comparative Perspective

Scholarly interest in and debate about urban political machines waxed considerably in the 1980s. What is curious about urban political machines is their appearance in the United States. Using the analytical framework of American exceptionalism, the author compares late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century urban political development in Germany, France, England, and the United States in an attempt to identify the distinctive features of the American context that fostered the rise of urban political machines.