The Dynamics of Urban Politics and Representation

This assignment delves into the intricacies of urban politics and representation, examining how cities like Chicago and Los Angeles navigate complex issues such as racial hierarchies, economic disparities, and civic engagement. The analysis reveals how these factors influence the political landscape and representation in federal legislatures, highlighting the need for self-government and targeted responses to address unique urban challenges.

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QN 2. How immigration in the US led to the growth of cities between 1830-1930.
The period between 1930- 1930 was characterized by mass immigration into the US. This
led to the growth of cities due to increased population. The factors that led to this tremendous
growth of cities included: increased demand for housing, availability of cheap labor. Increased
demand for goods and improvement of infrastructure. Generally, between 1830-1930, 3.5
million and 4.5 immigrants of British and Irish origin respectively entered America. The
Catholic and Protestant immigrants that arrived in 1845-1880 were largely driven from their
homes by famine. After 1880, there was an improvement in the shipping technology, which
saw about 25 million immigrants arriving in the united states to look for jobs. These
immigrants were from Italy, Hungary, Russia, Germany, Britain, Czech and even Jews.
Immigration slowed after the first world war because the US government introduced
checks to regulate the immigrants entering America. The immigration policy established by the
immigrations Act of 1921 and 1924 limited the numbers of people migrating into the US based
on their origin. The creation of the Border Patrol also led to the decrease of immigrants because
it curbed illegal smuggling of aliens into the country by a big number.

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QN. 3 The four local reforms
Children and women’s rights; This movement was coordinated by the National Labor
Committee to address the exploitation of vulnerable members of the society by using
photographs taken by Lewin Hine which showed children working under harsh conditions. This
approach saw the implementation and the enactment of a law which stipulated the range of years
and of age for working with children in 1910(Anderson 57). Women also were to be limited for
the time of working. A 54 workweek for women was introduced and children below 14 years
were barred from working. After the nineteen amendments of the constitution women are given
the right to vote and also participate in political positions.
Prohibition of alcohol which was supported by the Protestant churches by the formation
of Anti Saloon League; resulted in the banning of manufacture firms and the sale of alcohol by
the two-thirds of states in 1917. Making government efficient and responsive was aimed at
allowing direct participation of the public in political processes, Anderson, E. (1999). A
preliminary election to be taken by all members of the party by nomination, a referendum in
which proposed law is clearly presented on the ballot for voting. For making government
responsive a workman compensation law was formulated under workman’s compensation Act of
1916. This led to compensations due to injuries, deaths and other accidents which resulted from
the working conditions.
Chartist movement sought universal suffrage which demanded economic reforms higher wages
and better conditions of work.
QN 3. White flight and redlining. The impact of FHA and VA on closing suburbs to
African Americans.

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Redlining: -This is an illegal practice by banks or any other financial institution whereby
loans and mortgages are denied to people from certain neighborhoods. Redlining was dominant
in the US in the 1930s whereby the Home Owners Loan Corporation drew maps of the
neighborhoods to determine which ones were worthy to get mortgage lending (Wacquant 106).
During this period, American neighborhoods were color-coded and the ones that had people
from different races were outlined in red. This practice was soon adopted by private although it
was dropped in 1968 through the Fair Housing Act.
White flight.
This was the dramatic migration of white people from the inner cities to the suburbs. It
occurred in the 1970s and the period was marked by high racial tension.
The FHA and VA policies made suburbs exclusive for whites in the following ways:
1. They ensured that mortgage was only available for the whites.
2. They mapped the neighborhoods.
3. There was punishment for whites who condoned having African neighbors.
There were some changes that were introduced for the process of urban renewal to be effective.
They included:
1. Formation of biracial coalitions. With a lot of enmity brewing, this was viewed as the
best option to govern the cities. It brought peace and harmony. This policy has taken root
in some areas like Colorado which have had both white and black mayors.
2. Economic development. there was an initiative to develop both the white and black
neighborhoods equally. This was also accompanied by crime control mechanisms

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3. Complementarity.
QN 7 Culture, symbols and politics
According to Nancy L. Rosenblum, 2000. In her essay on Religious Accommodation in
Pluralist Democracies, she postulates that in the early 19th and 20th Centuries, USA was
polarized alongside two faith blocks which borrowed identity from the two ruling parties, the
Republican and the Democrat. The Protestant sects were aligned to the Republican while the
Catholics were aligned to the Democrats. During this particular era, most whites were
Democrats and Africans were Republican thus resulting in the beefed-up divide of
ethnocultural politics. It is often asserted that politicians only disclose their religious
affiliations during campaigning period, an aspect that is likened to Jefferson, the third
president of USA. Party machines in this case, therefore, refer to a group of politics headed
by a boss or small stratified autocratic group commanding enough votes and other resources
to maintain political and administrative control of city or state. There is free exercise of
religion in the United States. During campaigns, the politicians are free to discuss their
religious beliefs which may trigger some feelings to the public against voting for the
politician.
The reform for alcohol and pubs for barring the manufacture and sale of alcohol despite
claims of reactions made by liquor press. Donations are made by the alcohol industry to
political parties in its efforts securing favorable policy outcomes. In 1997 Carr Government
liberated NSW gambling laws to allow poker machines in pubs and hotels.

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PART 2
Urban Politics
The first striking episode is in the 20th century when Americans – in Chicago, lived in an
agricultural society that is semi-feudal and revolutionized to practicing urban industrial
inequality. At the time when racial tumult got the better of the Southern region – that is in 1963,
Chicago and Mississippi had the same political alignment. It was the same time that LBJ signed
the Civil Rights Act. Chicago delivered five Democrats to the House thereby, dominating the
political arena for an extended period. The regions had elements that are archetypal with regards
to the New Deal coalition (Fuchs 63). Also, they had a racial hierarchy that is clear – however,
that in Mississippi was sustained by private violence and law. Another outstanding issue was the
political alignment of the organization in Chicago. In that period, firms were hegemonic and
democratic. They practiced politics that had a “sharp racial edge” thereby ensuring that black
political forces are marginalized. White citizens of Chicago did not pay much attention to racial
utopia because the vigilantes were entrenched on ethnic segregation patterns as well as
regulation and law. On the contrary, such a phase represented the last moment when Chicago and
Mississippi were ruled by white polities that are stable – with intents and purposes, in the
Democratic fold. Five decades after that, Mississippi became known as the reddest state while
Chicago was blue at the national level politics (Fuchs 213). The New Deal coalition – earlier
known as all-powerful and built on an alliance that is tenuous, completely vanished. The
northern and southern constituencies wholly disappeared. Such also accelerated the civil rights
movement and struggled in the 1960s (Kare 67).
Congress’ Urban Bloc

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Analyses – either aggregate-level or individual, show that the cleavage of urban-rural partisan
has grown. On the other hand, the current system of representation preferably distills people-in-
communities into the legislative seats. The form is residence-based meaning that legislators do
not represent economic sectors but age cohorts, geographic constituencies, or other societal
cross-sections. In Los Angeles, the representative is associated with looking after particular
groups of individuals or built environment. In such a way, suburbanites, urbanites, and ruralists
happen to be either represented or affiliated differently leading to the rise of political conflicts. In
Los Angeles still, a gap that is approximately 10 percent may be exaggerated to represent 1-0 in
a particular constituency. Thus, a winner-take-all scenario occurs. About local institutions that
affect national politics, several documents on the same – published four decades ago argue that
financial institutions’ disciplining powers and federalism logic does not determine the local
outcome’s character. However, it is impossible to deny the predicaments faced by Los Angeles.
The forces of urban politics in Los Angeles have the potential of shaping the communities in the
city. On the contrary, such will only happen if such effects are organized at levels that are high
enough to initiate self-government. Issues like labour law, redistribution, public works projects,
regulatory policy, and other market interventions need to be appropriately planned and paid for
as well. Such responses are necessary because they have characteristics that are distinctive to
urban political positioning. Such positioning gives a city the voice required in national politics
using the Democratic Parties (Fuchs 501). The pursuance of such civic positions within the
federal legislature is, as well, determine how the city represents itself and also interact with other
cities of the polity (Kare 123).

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Work Cited
Anderson, E. (1999), Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner city.
New York: WW. Norton.
Fuchs, Ester. “Mayors and Money: Fiscal Policy in New York and Chicago.” The University of
Chicago Press Books, 30 Mar. 2018,
https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3644218.html.
Karen, Mayor. “Can America’s Great Industrial Cities Pull off a Second Act?” Chicago
University-Institute of Politics, 30 Mar. 2018,
https://www.politics.uchicago.edu/pages/lavea-brachman-seminar-series.
Wacquant, L. (2002). Scrutinizing the street: Poverty, Morality and the Pitfalls of Urban
Ethnography, American Journal of Sociology, 107(6): 1-1532.