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

by King-meadows, Tyson; Schaller, Thomas F.

• ISBN13: 9780791467305
• ISBN10: 0791467309
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-06-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

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. Book jacket.

Author Biography

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

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
List of Tables	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
The State Link in the Chain	p. 9
Race and Representation in State Legislatures	p. 39
The Black Electoral Connection	p. 59
When Identity and Constituency Collide at Roll Call	p. 91
The Institutionalization of Black State Legislative Power	p. 109
Black Legislators, Black Constituents, and the Devolution Revolution	p. 147
Nationalizing Black State Interests	p. 191
Devolutionary Dangers	p. 217
Underlying Data for Figures 3.2a and 3.2b	p. 229
Trends in AFDC/TANF Recipient Characteristics	p. 233
Methods for Reexamining Sticks and Carrots	p. 237
Notes	p. 239
Bibliography	p. 273
Index	p. 297
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