If Civic Culture is the Answer,What is the Question?

Abstract

Governing coalitions arise in response to recognized problems. They are mediating forces, not isolated universes operating only by an inner logic. The character of urban regimes concerns not only simply who makes up a governing coalition but also how the members are related to one another—the terms on which they cooperate and the resources they bring to bear. Regime analysis does not in itself explain the context from which members of a governing coalition come, but it provides a gateway to forms of explanation. With greater specificity about what civic culture is and what it explains, the concept of civic culture could help illuminate the local political context. However, at its current level of development, civic culture sheds little light on some key questions, such as those about political agency and how change occurs or about why economic development holds such a high place on the policy agenda of most localities.