Political incorporation refers to the extent to which a group's interests are effectively represented in policy making. This can be measured by looking at the extent to which a group is represented in a coalition that dominates city policy-making on issues concerning them. There is a range of possibilities. A group is not represented at all when there are no officials from a group holding political office and the group does not participate in a coalition that does have control over city government on the issues most important to them. Sometimes there is some representation, on a council dominated by a coalition, when a group has a large role in a dominant coalition that is committed to minority interest. Groups with the highest levels of political …show more content…
People are generally rational, meaning that they will most often act in their own self-interest. On some level, this is something that citizens and voters recognize and they vote for the leader or representative whose interests seem to line up closest with their own. They figure that if the person with interests closest to their own is elected, more decisions and policies will be made that will have positive results for them. As shown in some of the chapters in Racial Politics in American Cities, political incorporation by forming coalitions and electing members of minority groups has varying levels of impact for the local minority communities. In some cities, like New York City, minority leaders in elected office fail to make positive changes for the minority community or voters fail to elect minority leaders because, perhaps they take office and their goals get lost in the office and how things have been done previously, or because they fail to build a governing coalition or they are unable to build a strong enough minority coalition to elect leaders. In other cities, like Atlanta, Georgia, elected minority leaders manage to make changes that have a positive effect on the minority group coalitions that elected them. In places like Atlanta and Denver, election of minority leaders can lead to increased minority representation in employment in city …show more content…
Getting members of the community involved in governing and decision-making is important. Implementing programs like the participatory budgeting one found in at least one New York City council district. In such programs, a community's residents have access to a certain portion of the district's annual budget and through a series of neighborhood assemblies and public meetings over the course of several months, residents brainstorm ideas of projects that are needed in their neighborhoods. At the end of the process, the residents get to vote on the project proposals to choose which ones are most important to the community and the projects receiving the most votes get implemented (“What do you want in out neighborhood”). In programs like these, people in low-income, majority minority neighborhoods are able to be part of the decision-making process and projects that are important to them can get done. Though participation in participatory budgeting programs in U.S. municipalities has a lot of room for growth, it's things like this that can help mobilize minority groups and encourage participation in the local political
The authors further explain their reasons for calling America a “racial democracy” and how conflicted they are. Jason Stanley and Weaver explain how minorities
The topic of race, redistricting, and minority representation in Congress has emerged as one of the most salient issues in contemporary political thought. The creation of so‑called majority minority districts has been attacked as unfair and racially polarizing by some observers and ultimately struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The study of race in relation to American politics and institutions, and, in particular, to the institution of Congress, has produced a wealth of research and literature in recent years. This scope of budding research ranges from legislative activity and Congressional voting to the electoral process and campaigning. This study examines the effects of
In this article, Jennifer Mosley and Colleen Grogan, professors at The University of Chicago, concludes that the more public participation in administrative decision making in different urban areas is an important target in majority of public organizations. The author states that many public agencies develop different strategies on who should be able to participate in open decision making. The strategies determined how they will prevent different type of biases. Often leaders of the nonprofit organizations are asked to serve as representatives of the community in a variety of participatory processes. They came up with something called mixed-methods. Mixed-methods are used in order to address whether residents believe nonprofit
The black people’s political power was deprived by the racial institutions-racial gerrymandering deprivation. It is announced that “the court prohibited a then-common practice among some states of spreading minorities across voting districts, leaving them too few in number in any given district to elect their preferred candidates. The practice became known as "racial gerrymandering.””(Kim Soffen 438). The spreading of minorities weakened their rights to attend election. When the government separated minorities region to the majority group nearby, the minorities liked African American group has less chance to be elected in their new district. It also stated that “Typically the goal in [packing minorities into a district] is not to reduce minority
In “Congress in Black and White,” Christian Grose discusses his theory of politics and the different methods of choosing a representative that will serve the majority and minority communities equally. He believes that the best way to choose a representative is based on the majority of the people within that community. For example, he states that the best person to represent the African American community would be another African American who can empathize with what the community experiences on a daily basis. He explains the two theories black majority versus black-influence districts. For example, the term white-majority has lost its emphasis over the year. Within California, you can
In politics, racial and ethnic backgrounds tend to outline the outcomes of public policies- especially in minority communities. Minorities in the United States yearly increase due to both legal and illegal immigration (Shaw et al. 332). The trend will continue and by the middle of the 21st century, the minority population, cumulatively, will surpass the so-called White majority in the United States. The definitions of pluralism and two-tiered pluralism differ between the person’s race and ethnic backgrounds. As for the minorities, it may both bring some advantages and as well as disadvantages in public participation and the passing of public policies; however, in current times, two-tiered pluralism is becoming more dominant in politics as the racial divide within the United States continues to worsen.
Getting citizens of a local community of more involved in local government has consistently been a challenge. A few suggestions to increase participation in the city of Shawnee include posting the dates of the city council meetings in The Shawnee Dispatch, both on paper and on-line, as well as on the City of Shawnee website. Also, posting the agenda for each meeting can drive attendance of Shawnee citizens with interest in a specific issue being discussed during the stated meeting. The increased attendance at the meeting will improve the frequency that a citizen will reach out to their area council representative to further discuss the issues facing the city. Another recommendation is to add a suggestion forum to solicit input from local citizens
Although elections are suppose to provide citizens with a way to shape policymaking by changing who the policymakers are citizens can change what policies are made, the citizens still have little impact. Elections do not serve as a vehicle for citizens to change policy. The way that congress is set up makes it extremely difficult to create change in congress. Typically miniorties groups are in groups that need to most help and have the most problems, and it’s difficult for their problems to get solved if they don’t have members of congress of their ethnic group that can relate to their problems and understand what they’re going through more than a member of congress that has a different rationality. As my The Struggle
Another key point is obtaining political power of the African American would give the essential voice needed locally, statewide, and on a federal level to convert their policy preferences into law. (Vega 2016) Policies that correspond to the African American community would be vital to issues of crime, welfare and housing. The African American concerns currently are often ignored by elected officials, because they conflict with white preferences. In this case gains in political power would offset this imbalance allowing elected officials with the African American community views a greater chance to impact policies into become a law. (Page 2015) Strengthening the voice of the African America on a political level will make it to where their preferences
State and local governments truly benefit off of people who are the voice of their community. These citizens do not sit around and do nothing about an issue that affects them. These citizens engage in political affairs such as neighborhood groups (Bowman and Kearney, 2014). For instance, some neighborhood groups are established to create a better place for everyone to live. These groups participate in issues that are going on around their community. Neighborhood associations have the ability to go to court about concerns on issues. There are also environmental groups, which work towards clean water and air, the use of natural resources, and protecting wildlife. Another organization is social justice. These advocates are determined to
How the republican party gain black-american votes, is more or less the same as the democratic party gained votes using their own strategies. As both parties have been influencing minorities, ethnic groups have been sought after as voting blocs and attracted by one or another political party based on agendas designed specifically for them (Zake and Gormly, 469–490). This offers insight on how strategies were used not just by the republican but also by the democratic party, this insight offers an opposing viewpoint of Brown that the Republican party was not the only party to use political strategies that were constructed to create diversity. There are many ways that ethnic groups and minorities have been part of political content, during the 1930s the Democratic Nationalities Division found itself engaged in political work even in the periods between the election campaigns and its task was to generate a long-term strategy for appealing to ethnic voters. It consisted of a person or two looking after foreign language affairs (Zake and Gormly, 469–490). The Democrats’ strategy was to put senators or congressmen as the leaders of these foreign languages sections and thus avoid conflicts and power competition among different leaders within the ethnic group. Doing this gives other minorities a sense of accomplishment. Going back to the republicans
In “Race-Based Coalitions Among Minority Group” by Reuel Rogers, grabbed my attention when he began to describe the what many political scientist questioned. In the simplest terms, it is why don’t all the minority groups form an alliance to become successful together. Theoretically/on paper this all makes sense, all of these groups suffer through similar thing, such as discrimination and modern segregation in schools and homes. Yet, this unification between minorities is not present in society. Ultimately, it’s because everyone has different goals, experiences and hardships. To an extent it is related back to the fact that specific
Historically in America, voting has been a relatively discriminatory practice. It has limited and deprived many individuals of many diverse races, ethnicities, and walks of life from casting their votes to select the individual who they feel is most educated, and skilled to represent their interests. Not only has this been proven to be wrong by discriminating minority groups in voting, it also has proved to be a process, which minimizes the largest growing demographics in the country. Furthermore, with millennials growing to become more politically active, minority groups are becoming more politically involved than ever. Taking this into account an important question that is raised by the author William Eskridge in his book “Legislation and Statutory Interpretation” is “Would minorities be better off with more representatives who had to pay attention to their interests because they are a powerful and organized constituency, rather than with a few representatives of minority districts who specialize in protecting only their interests?” (Eskridge,Frickley,& Garrett, 2006, pp.55).
Milk’s model demonstrates various strengths but one overall limitation pertains to listening and responding to the needs of all San Franciscans. Throughout, Milk’s three elections he focused on self-interest change such as gay rights, which is a prominent issue. However, the people of San Francisco’s wants and needs were not being collectively explored or heard. However, in his last election he realized a collective community need concerning clean sidewalks without dog poop. Through this collective San Franciscan identified cause he was able to establish his position as an elected official. Thus, Milk’s model does not target inclusive community engagement or participation pertaining to government responses or plans.
A group can become a political interest group. A political interest group can make demands or influence the demands of society on an institution of government