Remote and thinly populated, Maine was long insulated from many of the demographic and economic trends of states to the south.Maine Politics and Governmenttraces recent changes in the state's system as agriculture, manufacturing, and maritime trades have ceded dominance to high-tech businesses, extensive commercial development, and an expanding governmental sector. This compact overview of Maine politics and government describes how the state's history and political culture have shaped its political processes, its governing institutions, and its public-policy priorities. It also highlights the shift in the role of Maine's governments in the past half centuryfrom low-service entities to administrators of a broad range of public policies. The authors consider the impact of the influx of newcomers along the southern Maine coast, serious financial issues involving burdensome taxation, the pressing need to make the nearly five hundred units of local government more efficient, and problems attending the spread of suburbs throughout the state. Fully updated and expanded, this second edition provides a wealth of new materialmaps, case studies, updated demographic information, treatment of new policies and health-care plans, and an overview of the administrations of the two most recent governors.

Kenneth T. Palmer is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Maine.

G. Thomas Taylor is professor of public administration at the University of Maine.

Marcus A. LiBrizzi is an associate professor of English at the University of Maine, Machias.

Jean E. Lavigne has taught at the University of Maine and was the director of Graduate Programs in Public Administration.

List of Tables and Maps	p. vii
Authors" Preface to Second Edition	p. ix
Authors" Preface to First Edition	p. xi
State of the State	p. 1
Maine's Political Culture: The New England Frontier	p. 7
Maine's Traditional Politics and Its Transformation	p. 23
Contemporary Maine Politics	p. 34
The Constitutional Tradition	p. 54
The State Legislature	p. 67
The Governor and the Administration	p. 82
The Court System	p. 100
Maine's Budget as Policy	p. 117
Contemporary Policy Concerns	p. 141
Maine in the Federal System	p. 177
Local Government	p. 194
Substate Regionalism and State-Local Relations	p. 215
Concluding Observations	p. 241
Maine Documents and Sources	p. 247
Notes	p. 255
Index	p. 275
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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