Using a policy subsystem approach, the authors examine the politics of community development in Minneapolis. A cohesive and stable community development subsystem evolved during the 1970s and early 1980s, dominated by community development corporations and the city's multifamily housing development bureaucracy. Recent changes in community development policy reflect changes in the subsystem dynamics, including a challenge to the dominant coalition by neighborhood groups and external factors such as the redefinition of policy objectives. Subsystem analysis helps to explain policy change at the local level; explicit consideration of the social construction of issues and of the impact of issue redefinition will enrich subsystem analysis.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Baumgartner, F. R. , and B. D. Jones. 1993. Agendas and instability in American politics. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
2.
Berger, R. A.1993. Charitable contributions for community development. Report prepared for the St. Paul Companies Community Affairs Department. Washington, DC: Teamworks.
3.
Berry, J. M.1989. Subgovernments, issue networks, and political conflict. In Remaking American politics, edited by R. A. Harris and S. M. Milkas. Boulder, CO: Westview.
4.
Berry, J. M. , K. E. Portney, and K. Thomson.1993. The rebirth of urban democracy. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
5.
Body count . 1995. City Pages, 5 July, 3.
6.
Bosso, C. J.1994. The contextual bases of problem definition. In The politics of problem definition: Shaping the policy agenda, edited by D. A. Rochefort and R. W. Cobb, 182-203. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
7.
Brandt, S. , and N. Draper. 1995. House the poor, sure; the fight is over where. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 5 June, 1A.
8.
Cassano, D.1994. Rezoning to build low income housing voted down in Eagan. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 9 December, lB.
9.
Cole, R. L.1974. Citizen participation and the urban policy process. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
10.
Davey, J. D.1995. The new social contract: America's journey from welfare state to police state. Westport, CT: Praeger.
11.
Deloitte and Touche . 1993. Minneapolis Community Development Agency organizational review. Report to the MCDA Review Committee, Minneapolis.
12.
Dommel, P. R. , and Associates. 1982. Decentralizing urban policyWashington, DC: Department of Housing and Urban Development.
13.
Dommel, P. R. , J. C. Musselwhite, Jr., S. F. Liebschutz, and Associates. 1982. Implementing community development. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
14.
Dommel, P. R. , R. P. Nathan, S. F. Liebschutz, M. T. Wrightson and Associates. 1978. Decentratizing community development. Washington, DC: Department of Housing and Urban Development.
15.
Gans, H.1995. The war against the poor: The underclass and anti-poverty policy. New York: Basic.
16.
Goetz, E. G.1993. Shelter burden: Local politics and progressive housing policy. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.
17.
Goetz, E. G.1996. The US war on drugs as urban policy. International Journal for Urban and Regional Research20 (3): 539-549.
18.
Goetz, E. G. , and Mara S. Sidney. 1994a. Government support for nonprofit housing in the Twin Cities. St. Paul: Housing Program, University of Minnesota.
19.
Goetz, E. G. , and Mara S. Sidney. 1994b. Revenge of the property owners: Community development and the politics of property. Journal of Urban Affairs16 (4): 319-334.
20.
Goetz, E. G. , and Mara S. Sidney. 1994c. The impact of the Minneapolis neighborhood revitalization program on community organizations. Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota.
21.
Gordon, D. R.1994. The return of the dangerous classes: Drug prohibition and policy politics. New York: W. W. Norton.
22.
Hajer, M. A.1993. Discourse coalitions and the institutionalization of practice: The case of acid rain in Britain. In The argumentative turn in policy analysis and planning, edited by F. Fischer and J. Forester, 43-76. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press.
23.
Heclo, H.1978. Issue networks and the executive establishment. In The new American political system, edited by A. King. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute.
24.
Hult, K. M. 1983. Citizen participation in local politics: The Minneapolis case. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, April.
25.
Kaszuba, M.1993. Maple Grove tables low income housing project after angry meeting. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 18 November, 1B.
26.
Klandermans, B.1992. The sociological construction of protest in multiorganizational fields. In Frontiers in social movement theory, edited by A. Morris and C. M. Mueller, 77-83. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
27.
Laumann, E. O. , and D. Knoke. 1987. The organizational state. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press.
28.
Lauria, M.1984. The implications of Marxian rent theory for community-controlled redevelopment strategies. Journal of Planning Education and Research4 (1): 16-24.
29.
Leitner, H.1990. Cities in pursuit of economic growth: The local state as entrepreneur. Political Geography Quarterly9 (2): 146-170.
30.
Logan, J. R. , and H. L. Molotch. 1987. Urban fortunes: The political economy of place. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
31.
Logan, J. , and G. Rabrenovic. 1990. Neighborhood associations: Their issues, their allies, and their opponents. Urban Affairs Quarterly26 (1): 68-94.
32.
Lukermann, B. L. , and M. P. Kane. 1994. Land use practices: Exclusionary zoning, de facto or de jure? An examination of the practices of ten suburban communities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.
33.
Marsh, D. , and R. Rhodes. 1992. Policy networks in British government. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press.
34.
Massey, D. S. , and N. A. Denton. 1993. American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
35.
Mead, L.1986. Beyond entitlement: The social obligations of citizenship. New York: Free Press.
36.
Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities . 1992. Trouble at the core: The Twin Cities under stress. St. Paul, MN: Author.
37.
Milward, H. B. , and G. L. Wamsley. 1984. Policy subsystems, networks, and the tools of public management. In Public policy formation, edited by R. Eyestone. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
38.
Murray, C.1984. Losing ground: American social policy 1950-1980. New York: Basic.
39.
Nickel, D. R.1996. The progressive city? Urban redevelopment in Minneapolis. Urban Affairs Review30 (3): 355-377.
40.
Pratchett, L.1994. Open systems and closed networks: Policy networks and the emergence of open systems in local government. Public Administration72 (1): 73-93.
41.
Ripley, R. , and G. Franklin. 1980. Congress, the bureaucracy and public policy. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
42.
Rochefort, D. A. , and R. W. Cobb. 1994. Problem definition: An emerging perspective. In The politics of problem definition: Shaping the policy agenda, edited by D. A. Rochefort and R. W. Cobb, 1-31. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
43.
Sabatier, P. A. , and H. C. Jenkins-Smith. 1993. Policy change and learning: An advocacy coalition approach. Boulder, CO: Westview.
44.
Scavo, C.1993. The use of participative mechanisms by large U.S. cities. Journal of Urban Affairs15 (1): 93-109.
45.
Schneider, A. , and H. Ingram. 1993. Social construction of target populations: Implications for politics and policy. American Political Science Review87 (2): 334-347.
46.
Schwartz, A.1992. Rebuilding downtown: A case study of Minneapolis. Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University.
47.
Short, A.1993a. Plan to spend over $1 million to build four $90,000 houses is questioned. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 27 September, 1A.
48.
Short, A.1993b. State spends $212,000 to rehab $60,000 House. Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 24 August, 1A, 10A.
49.
Smith, M. J.1993. Pressure, power and policy: State autonomy and policy networks in Britain and the United States. New York: Harvester/Wheatsheaf.
50.
Snow, D. A. , and R. D. Benford. 1992. Master frames and cycles of protest. In Frontiers in social movement theory, edited by A. Morris and C. M. Mueller, 133-155. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
51.
Staley, S.1993. Drug policy and the decline of American cities. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
52.
Stoecker, R.1994. Defending community: The struggle for alternative development in Cedar-Riverside. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.
53.
Stoecker, R.1995. Community, movement, organization: The problem of identity convergence in collective action. Sociological Quarterly36 (1): 111-130.
54.
Thomas, J. C.1986. Between citizen and city: Neighborhood organizations and urban politics in Cincinnati. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
55.
Tonry, M.1995. Malign neglect: Race, crime, and punishment in America. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
56.
Wilson, W. J.1986. The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
