The Nation-State and Urban Governance

Abstract

In recent international comparative studies of urban governance, the nation-state has usually figured as a direct influence on local government and politics. This article, drawing on case studies of a similar U.S. city and German city, demonstrates the need for a new, more sophisticated conception of the effects from national institutions. In the German city, a pro-business coalition carried out extensive social and environmental policies. In the U.S. city, a progressive coalition subordinated social and to a lesser degree environmental objectives to developmental aims. To account for these results, the author proposes and applies a typology of national institutional contexts. These contexts influenced urban governance not only through direct effects on the choices of local elites and activists but through indirect effects on translocal economies, urban economies, and local culture.