Local Interests : Politics, Policy, and Interest Groups in US City Governments

**A policy-focused approach to understanding the role of interest groups in US municipal governments.** Local politics in the United States once seemed tranquil compared to the divisiveness and dysfunction of the country’s national politics. Those days have passed. As multiple wide-ranging crises have thrust America’s local governments into the spotlight, they have also exposed policy failures and systemic problems that have mounted for years. While issues such as policing and the cost of housing are debated nationally, much of the policymaking surrounding these issues occurs locally. In __Local Interests__, Sarah F. Anzia explores how local governments—and the interest groups that try to influence them—create the policies that drive the national conversation: policing, economic development, housing, and challenges of taxing and spending. Anzia examines local interest groups in terms of the specific policies they pursue, including how these groups get active in politics and what impact they have. By offering new perspectives on these issues, Anzia contributes to our knowledge of how interest groups function and the significant role they play in shaping broader social outcomes. "Although police behavior and the cost of housing are debated nationally, much of the policymaking on these issues takes place, not at the national level, but in local governments. The role of the federal government in managing the thousands of local police departments is very limited. On housing, the absence of affordable housing is largely the result of zoning laws and development decisions made at the local level. In Local Interests: Interest Groups and Public Policy in U.S. City Government, Sarah Anzia explores local governments and the interest groups that lobby them on important issues, with a focus on police and economic development and housing, areas that are critical in local politics. In doing so, Anzia not only offers a different perspective on these critical issues, for example demonstrating why reforms in policing practices supported by progressive often are stymied, and why efforts to increase density and create more houses fail. Anzia also contributes to our knowledge about how interest groups function generally and giving us an important perspective on the too-often stepchild of political science, local politics"-- Provided by publisher Interest groups and public policy in US local government -- The policy-focused approach to studying interest groups -- How active are interest groups in local politics? -- What kinds of interest groups are most active? -- Political parties in local politics -- Influence: issues, approach, and expectations -- Business and growth -- Unions, public safety, and local government spending -- Interest group influence in local elections -- Local interests and power