A Tale of Two Cities: The Ones that Organized and Those Left Behind

• In Event: Poster Session - Law and Courts & Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations

Abstract

In 1994, Burns (1994) outlined the central theory for explaining why new governments are created in the American federalist system; arguing that people organize to gain power. Since then, academic research on municipal incorporations has considerably slowed down. Yet cityhood movements have started to gain power again in localized areas of the US. Figures show that more than 120 new Municipal governments were created since 2000. In this project I ask whether the wave of municipal incorporations post-2000 follows the same patterns that Nancy Burns so thoroughly explained. More precisely I ask why and how municipal governments incorporate today. I conduct a series of interviews with key actors from several states in the US that have been involved in incorporation processes, including state legislators, judges, members of neighborhood associations, mayors and city councilors. I find that fiscal, legal, racial and other demographic incentives determine where, when and why communities incorporate and what types of new cities they create.

Author

• Luisa Godinez Puig, Boston University