Peter F. Burns – författare

Examines how and why government leaders understand and respond to African Americans and Latinos in northeastern cities with strong political traditions.Focusing on four medium-sized northeastern cities with strong political traditions, Electoral Politics Is Not Enough analyzes conditions under which white leaders respond to and understand minority interests. Peter F. Burns argues that conventional explanations, including the size of the minority electorate, the socioeconomic status of the citizenry, and the percentage of minority elected officials do not account for variations in white leaders' understanding of and receptiveness toward African American and Latino interests. Drawing upon interviews with more than 200 white and minority local leaders, and through analysis of local education and public safety policies, he finds that unconventional channels, namely neighborhood groups and community-based organizations, strongly influence the representation of minority interests.

Examines how and why government leaders understand and respond to African Americans and Latinos in northeastern cities with strong political traditions.Focusing on four medium-sized northeastern cities with strong political traditions, Electoral Politics Is Not Enough analyzes conditions under which white leaders respond to and understand minority interests. Peter F. Burns argues that conventional explanations, including the size of the minority electorate, the socioeconomic status of the citizenry, and the percentage of minority elected officials do not account for variations in white leaders' understanding of and receptiveness toward African American and Latino interests. Drawing upon interviews with more than 200 white and minority local leaders, and through analysis of local education and public safety policies, he finds that unconventional channels, namely neighborhood groups and community-based organizations, strongly influence the representation of minority interests.

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, but in the subsequent ten years, the city has demonstrated both remarkable resilience and frustrating stagnation. In Reforming New Orleans, Peter F. Burns and Matthew O. Thomas chart the city's recovery and assess how successfully officials at the local, state, and federal levels transformed the Big Easy in the wake of disaster. Focusing on reforms in four key sectors of urban governance—economic development, education, housing, and law enforcement—both before and after Katrina, they find lessons for cities hit by sudden shocks, such as natural disasters or large-scale financial crises.One of their key insights is that post-disaster recovery tends to limit local control. State and federal officials, national foundations, and local actors excluded by pre-Katrina politics used their resources and authority to displace entrenched local interests and implement a public agenda focused on institutional and governmental change. Burns and Thomas also make clear reform in New Orleans was already underway before Katrina hit, but that it had focused largely on upper- and middle-class residents, a trend that accelerated after the storm. The market-centered nature of the reforms have ensured that they largely benefited city and regional elites while not significantly aiding the city's working-class and impoverished populations. Thus reform has come at a cost and that cost, in the long term, could undermine the political gains of the post-Katrina era.

When Walt Disney decided to build Disneyland in Anaheim, CA in the 1950s, the move presented a puzzle for Anaheim’s government: How would the city balance the interests of private investors against those of the citizenry when the two came into conflict?Disneyland Politics is a cogent examination of this urban power struggle, which has been playing out for 70 years. The authors show how the city was initially bound to the Disneyland Imperative, which placed the theme park above everything else in the city, including other economic development projects. However, starting in the 1990s, citizens pushed back against the corporation and its supporters, wanting a more balanced public policy agenda and ultimately loosening the stranglehold Disneyland had over the city’s political order.Recounting the history of Disney’s power in action and the tension between democratic governance and reliance on private investment, Disneyland Politics illustrates how those who pursue alternative agendas attempt to get their way, and how the fight for a more balanced public policy agenda has changed local power dynamics to be less favorable to Disneyland over time. In the series Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy

When Walt Disney decided to build Disneyland in Anaheim, CA in the 1950s, the move presented a puzzle for Anaheim’s government: How would the city balance the interests of private investors against those of the citizenry when the two came into conflict?Disneyland Politics is a cogent examination of this urban power struggle, which has been playing out for 70 years. The authors show how the city was initially bound to the Disneyland Imperative, which placed the theme park above everything else in the city, including other economic development projects. However, starting in the 1990s, citizens pushed back against the corporation and its supporters, wanting a more balanced public policy agenda and ultimately loosening the stranglehold Disneyland had over the city’s political order.Recounting the history of Disney’s power in action and the tension between democratic governance and reliance on private investment, Disneyland Politics illustrates how those who pursue alternative agendas attempt to get their way, and how the fight for a more balanced public policy agenda has changed local power dynamics to be less favorable to Disneyland over time. In the series Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy

Success in College provides essential information and advice that students need to better learn more and receive higher grades. It offers strategies for test- and note-taking, studying, writing papers, and making class schedules. Peter F. Burns also gives an insider's perspective to the academic semester, in-class behavior, and how and when to approach professors. Perhaps most importantly, there is invaluable advice about the attitude and work ethic that are essential to the development of outstanding college students.Burns uses his own college experiences, as well as the experiences of other students and professors and research findings, to supplement the material given. The impact of Success in College will last a lifetime. High school seniors, college students, and parents will welcome this humorous and thought-provoking work.