Urban Politics Revisited: a Policy-centered Look at Local Political Ecologies

This paper elaborates the policy-centered research program proposed by Hacker and Pierson (2014) by exploring how policy-centered research contributes to an understanding of urban politics and how the urban subfield contributes to a policy-centered research program. Using a bilevel analysis of the drug war and local union organizing, we highlight the local consequences of national policies and show that the consequences of national initiatives vary substantially, particularly for marginalized groups. Robert Stoker is professor of political science and a member of the faculty of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University. Clarence Stone is Clarence Stone is Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland and Research Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the George Washington University.