Risk of Regional Governance

Thomas Skuzinski is Assistant Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech University. He holds doctoral and master degrees from the University of Michigan, and a law degree from Michigan State University. His work uses a sociological institutionalist lens to examine how the rules, norms, and cultures in which local government actors are embedded shape metropolitan governance.

'Thomas Skuzinski uses a study of local government land use planning in Michigan, specifically the metropolitan areas of Grand Rapids and Detroit, to make a compelling argument for a new approach to understanding regional governance. He applies his sociocultural collective action framework to analyze social and cultural factors to understand why political and civic leaders engage in, or avoid engagement in, local cooperative and collaborative governance processes. This book is a welcome addition to the literature on regional governance.' - David K. Hamilton, Director of the Center for Public Service, Texas Tech University'Skuzinski’s work opens a promising avenue to explore the challenges and opportunities for interlocal collaboration and more effective regional governance. Beyond more evidence that agreements and consolidations are not all about the costs, his sociocultural collective action model advocates a theoretical turn that may nurture more politically viable structural reforms for a variety of public services.' - Kurt Thurmaier, Presidential Engagement Professor and Chair, Northern Illinois University

• 1. Introduction. 1.1 Opting out 1.2 Governing metropolitan regions 1.3 The legitimacy of reform 1.4 Reform as a transaction 1.5 The limitations of economizing 1.6 Theoretical perspectives on metropolitan governance 1.7 The goals of the book 1.8 Evidence from metropolitan Michigan 1.9 The plan of the book 2. Governing the Region through Cooperation 2.1 The Manchester Community 2.2 The difficulty of structural reforms 2.3 The limitations of state and federal intervention 2.4 Distinguishing cooperation 2.5 Enabling cooperation 2.6 Awareness of the law 2.7 Conclusion 3. Beyond Economizing 3.1 Transaction cost economizing 3.2 Cooperation as a transaction 3.3 The individual in the local government organization 3.4 Some conceptual issues 3.5 Maintaining systems versus creating lifestyles 3.6 When reform seems irrational 3.7 Conclusion 4. Sociocultural collective action 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Revisiting rationality 4.3 Individuals and institutions 4.4 The appropriateness of regional reform 4.5 An illustration 5. Investigating Rules and Norms 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Economizing and reciprocity in preference formation 5.3 The norm of responsiveness in local government 5.4 The treatment of responsiveness in economizing studies 5.5 Evidence of political legitimizing 6. Cultural Legitimizing 6.1 From gay rights to gun control to governance 6.2 Grid-group cultural theory 6.3 Reconciling cultural theory with rational choice institutionalism 6.4 Connecting dispositions to governance 6.5 The cultural dispositions of local elected officials 6.6 Dispositions and partisan identity 6.7 Evidence of cultural legitimizing 6.8 Conclusion 7. Conclusion 7.1 Avenues for policy reform under legitimizing 7.2 Dealing with cultural pluralism through de-biasing 7.3 The prospects for regional governance through voluntary interlocal cooperation