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Full-Text Articles in Urban Studies and Planning
The State-In-Society Approach To Democratization With Examples From Japan, Mary Alice Haddad
The State-In-Society Approach To Democratization With Examples From Japan, Mary Alice Haddad
Mary Alice Haddad
How does an undemocratic country create democratic institutions and transform its polity in such a way that democratic values and practices become integral parts of its political culture? This article uses the case of Japan to advocate for a new theoretical approach to the study of democratization. In particular, it examines how theoretical models based on the European and North American experiences have difficulty explaining the process of democratization in Japan, and argues that a state-in-society approach is better suited to explaining the democratization process diverse cultural contexts. Taking a bottom-up view of recent developments in Japanese civil society through …
From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad
From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad
Mary Alice Haddad
How do undemocratic civic organizations become compatible with democratic civil society? How do local organizations merge older patriarchal, hierarchical values and practices with newer more egalitarian, democratic ones? This article tells the story of how volunteer fire departments have done this in Japan. Their transformation from centralized war instrument of an authoritarian regime to local community safety organization of a full-fledged democracy did not happen overnight. A slow process of demographic and value changes helped the organization adjust to more democratic social values and practices. The way in which this organization made the transition offers important lessons for emerging democracies …
What Would Coase Do? (About Parking Regulation), Michael E. Lewyn
What Would Coase Do? (About Parking Regulation), Michael E. Lewyn
Michael E Lewyn
American municipalities typically require landowners to provide visitors and guests with ample amounts of parking, in order to prevent externalities such as cruising (drivers wasting gasoline and polluting the air while searching for scarce parking). However, minimum parking requirements may create social harms that outweigh this benefit. By artificially increasing the supply of parking, minimum parking requirements effectively subsidize driving, thus increasing rather than decreasing pollution and congestion.
2010 Planetizen Blog Posts, Michael Lewyn
2010 Planetizen Blog Posts, Michael Lewyn
Michael E Lewyn
The Effect Of Representational Gender On Policy Preferences In U.S. Municipalities, Mirya R. Holman
The Effect Of Representational Gender On Policy Preferences In U.S. Municipalities, Mirya R. Holman
Mirya R Holman
The research presented here explores the effect of gender and gender consciousness on the policy preference of local elected officials. Remedying a gap in the scholarship on women in local office, I examine the attitudes of mayors and council members on a variety of urban policy issues. First positing a gender gap theory of representative attitudes, I find almost no differences in policy preferences between men and women serving in local office. As an alternative, I posit and test a gender consciousness theory of policy preferences. Using open-ended survey data, I find that possessing a gender consciousness has a significant …
Obrigações De Realizar Obras De Conservação Patrimonial, De Acordo Com O Art. 19 Do Decreto-Lei 25/1937, Rafael De Oliveira Alves
Obrigações De Realizar Obras De Conservação Patrimonial, De Acordo Com O Art. 19 Do Decreto-Lei 25/1937, Rafael De Oliveira Alves
Rafael de Oliveira Alves
No abstract provided.
Sex And The City: Female Leaders And Spending On Social Welfare Programs In U.S. Municipalities, Mirya R. Holman
Sex And The City: Female Leaders And Spending On Social Welfare Programs In U.S. Municipalities, Mirya R. Holman
Mirya R Holman
Scholars of urban politics have long argued that cities will shy away from extensive funding of social welfare programs, as fiscal realities make developmental policies far more attractive. Despite the arguments against municipal level funding of social welfare services, cities provide these programs. Why? One possible explanation is that local officials prefer funding welfare programs. The research presented here demonstrates that the gender composition of local elected bodies impacts the provision of welfare services. The presence of a female mayor has a large positive effect on the likelihood a city participates in funding welfare programs and the amount of monetary …