Political & Social Variables in City-County Consolidation Referenda

Abstract

One of the basic issues of concern examined in many urban studies has been the relative importance of environmental factors as opposed to political factors in determining public policy outcomes. The variables which are found to be more important seem to vary with the researcher, his methodology, and his study focus.1 However, at present the environmental variables seem to be more strongly related to policy outcomes than political factors. As Philip Coulter has commented in a recent article, there is precious little attention given to the character of the political process(es) involved in the formation of public policy. 2 Two threads run through the literature on urban political integration. One thread emphasizes the importance of social (environmental) factors while the other stresses political factors in explaining political integration. Brett Hawkins, who has stressed the importance of environmental factors, contends that .... familism is strongly and independently related to the Yes vote on 3 In contrast, stressing the importance of political factors, Thomas Scott has argued that radical reorganization (consolidation being the most radical form) was possible because of special or unusual political factors which made the politicians and citizens respond abnormally to approve consolidation.4 Buttressing Scott's arguments are the individual case studies of citycounty consolidation. For example, both the Baton Rouge5 and Jack-