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Bezig met laden... Political influencedoor Edward C. Banfield
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In government, influence denotes one's ability to get others to act, think, or feel as one intends. A mayor who persuades voters to approve a bond issue exercises influence. A businessman whose promises of support induce a mayor to take action exercises influence. In Political Influence, Edward C. Banfield examines the structures and dynamics of influence in determining who actually makes the decisions on vital issues in a large metropolitan area. This edition includes an introduction by James Q. Wilson, who provides an intellectual profile of Banfield and a review of his life and work. Banfield locates his analysis in Chicago, focusing on a broad range of representative urban issues. An introductory chapter defines Banfield's method through four leading questions: Who has influence and who is subject to it? How does influence work? What are the terms upon which influence is expended? How is action concerted by influence? Banfield's conceptual scheme is applied at three levels. He offers six case studies of political influence, showing in considerable detail how influence was used in certain civic controversies. Then Banfield interprets these case studies, drawing from them a set of low-level empirical generalizations. At the third and highest level of generality, he explores the logical structure of significant aspects of influence and recasts the empirical findings in analytical terms, developing theories that apply generally to situations involving political influence. He also defines the key roles played by officeholders, the newspapers, business interests, the city council and minority groups. Political Influence is notable for its depth and sophistication. This rare combination of good reporting and insightful analysis is essential reading for political scientists, urban affairs specialists, policymakers, and sociologists. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)352.077311Social sciences Public Administration, Military Science General considerations of public administration [Formerly: North America] Midwestern U.S.LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: Geen beoordelingen.Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |
The case studies are boring. It's hard to imagine who would today be interested in reading such detailed accounts of how minor decisions in city development were taken in 1950s Chicago. The list of persons and committees involved in each decision is so long that the reader soon loses track of who is who and can't recall what the author wrote about the same person a few pages ago. After reading through a couple of these case studies, I decided to skip the rest.
The theoretical part is of course much more interesting. Political influence can, at least in city politics, work almost like a medium of trade, like currency in the marketplace. Various players in the political game possess varying capacities for exercising influence, but that does not mean that those who possess the most will take all decisions. Influence is a limited resource, so an agent who exercises a lot of influence on one proposal will have a lesser amount available for the next proposal. Influence-poor actors who care most about a given proposal may exercise more influence to get it passed than indifferent influence-rich actors will expend against it.
The final chapter of the book provides an interesting discussion on whether this sort of influence-balancing can generate a positive system of "social choice", where disagreements can be mediated more effectively than through central planning. This depends not only on how the political machine works, but also on the sources from which influence political actors can obtain their influence. At least in 1950s Chicago, influence sources included political elections, wealth, reputation and standing in local communities, and of course past usage of influence. The questions are very complex, but the case studies illustrate that the real world is also complex, and realistic theories of political decision-making cannot wipe clean too much of that complexity.