Terrorism and Governability in New York City

Abstract

New York City’s experience suggests that the hand of terrorism is profoundly changing urban politics. The events of 9/11 struck a city that was already seriously off balance due to long building sources of political fragmentation and exclusion that obstruct political leadership, making it difficult to overcome festering social divisions or steer the city in new directions. Despite Mayor Giuliani’s image of control during the weeksof emergency, deeply rooted forcescons pire against sustained governability. Decaying partisanship, disorganized politics, reliance on exclusionary electoral coalitions, and the proliferation of entrenched special interests powerfully check mayoral leadership and innovative planning for the city asa whole. This is likely to confound the city’s reco very and itsability to cope with international terrorism. Since these problemsare also found elsewhere, terrorism will pose similar challenges in other cities. Terrorism is combining with an older problem to change urban politics.

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