Intergovernmental Relations: State and Local Challenges in the Twenty-First Century, by Jonathan M. Fisk

Abstract

State and local governments take on increasingly important roles in the political process in the modern era, especially as political polarization continues to suppress momentum in the federal government to make meaningful reforms in numerous policy areas. Failure on the part of national officials to address modern-day policy problems leaves state and local governments to fight it out amongst themselves regarding what is best. Local governments have always been at the forefront of policy implementation and the first to be confronted by policy problems, particularly those related to quality of life. Local governments are closest and should be quickest to respond to resident needs, and they have historically acted as self-governing bodies in many arenas, enacting local policy agendas and often enjoying support from state governments, even in spite of having limited powers bestowed upon them by the state. However, as we face new challenges in the twenty-first century and as political polarization intensifies, states have become involved in managing local policies to a greater extent, as evidenced by the number of state preemption laws that grows each year (Riverstone-Newell 2017).