Valerie C. Johnson – författare

A leading theorist in urban politics, Clarence Stone redefined the field with his prize-winning book ""Regime Politics"" and is now acknowledged as the father of ""regime analysis."" Over the course of four decades, he has examined political power and leadership, race and politics, and the politics of social reform in urban settings through writings that have critiqued, debated, and recast large questions about democracy and inequality.This book collects ten classic articles and essays by Stone to create a succinct reader in urban politics. It encompasses theoretical work on urban political power; examinations of political leadership in community politics; considerations of race, class, and political power in Atlanta; and, writings on the politics of social reform and urban regeneration. These pieces provide a model for integrating empiricism with theory, offer Stone's own reflections on his theory, and demonstrate the evolution of his thought.The volume also features three new pieces. The editors' introduction provides an insightful assessment of the place of urban politics in political science and an overview of Stone's contributions to the field. Stone himself provides a brand new essay that paints a vision for a new urban agenda, using the regime concept as a base on which to build for the future. And Jennifer Hochschild's concluding chapter assesses Stone's work and lays out alternative perspectives, locating his scholarship within political science and pointing out its many strengths as well as some of its omissions.This collection reminds those interested in discourse about democracy, representation, inequality, justice, and power of the advantages that studying cities can bring to these important issues. It also serves to redirect urbanists to important foundational aspects of the urban regime framework and will stand as the legacy of the most influential theorist in his field.

The first comprehensive study of African American suburban political empowerment.The country's largest concentration of African American suburban affluence represents a unique laboratory to study the internal factors associated with African American political ascendancy and the convergence of race and class. Black Power in the Suburbs chronicles Prince George's County, Maryland, and the twenty-three year quest by African Americans to influence educational policy and become equal partners in the county's governing coalition. Johnson challenges conventional notions of a monolithic community by addressing the manner in which class cleavages among African Americans affect their representation and policy interests in suburbia. She also documents white resistance to power sharing and the impact of school desegregation on white population trends.