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Urban Armageddon or Politics as Usual? The Case of Municipal Civil Service Reform

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  • Anirudh V. S. Ruhil

Abstract

For the better part of the twentieth century, the question of municipal reformism has drawn urban scholarship: Why do some cities change their governing arrangements while others do not? Focusing exclusively on merit systems, in this study I expose the political underpinnings of merit reform in American municipal history. A duration analysis of merit adoptions in a sample of 252 cities in the 1900–1940 period suggests that both state‐ (home rule status, state merit systems) and city‐specific (at‐large elections, term length, city size, percent foreign‐born, regional location) factors largely determined when and where reform occurred.

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  • Anirudh V. S. Ruhil, 2003. "Urban Armageddon or Politics as Usual? The Case of Municipal Civil Service Reform," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(1), pages 159-170, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:47:y:2003:i:1:p:159-170
    DOI: 10.1111/1540-5907.00011
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    1. Ronald N. Johnson & Gary D. Libecap, 1994. "The "Problem of Bureaucracy"," NBER Chapters, in: The Federal Civil Service System and the Problem of Bureaucracy, pages 1-11, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Johnson, Ronald N. & Libecap, Gary D., 1994. "The Federal Civil Service System and the Problem of Bureaucracy," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226401713, September.
    3. Ronald N. Johnson & Gary D. Libecap, 1994. "The Federal Civil Service System and the Problem of Bureaucracy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number john94-1.
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