Governing New York State
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Many states experience social and political conflict, but because of its great size and diversity New York State endures greater social and political conflict than most. In Governing New York State, Syracuse political science professor Jeffrey Stonecash provides a collection of essay by mostly academics that cover a variety of major policy areas confronting New York; the economy, taxes, school finance, health care, transportation, welfare and others. The conflicts over these policy areas and those who support them are explained in essays revealing the conflict between New York City and the rest of the state. So, too, we see the conflicts that exist on the federal, state, and local level. Stonecash argues that while the political processes and political institutions are similar in New York to other states, the unique nature of New York makes reaching consensus on policy problematic, “Democracies exist because people have different values and needs. The political process represents these differing wants to politicians who must struggle with trying to reach publicly accepted policy decisions. The greater the conflict within a society, the more difficult it is to reach accommodations. New York State represents a state where the diversity is considerable and the conflicts are acute” (5). This book provides some excellent insights into the nature and workings of government and politics in New York. Along the way we discover some o
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inherently conflictual at best and outright hostile at worst. Mainly white, affluent individuals live outside of New York’s urban areas. Most of these individuals are represented by republicans while inner-city minorities are most often represented by democrats. So, too, democrats in the white, affluent suburban areas align themselves closer to the policies of republicans than their inner-city counterparts. Within this divisive and often conflicting structure we add the inherently conflictual relationship and structure between the mayor of New York and the New York State governor. This relationship is inherently conflictual according to Stonecash (49), “The governor and mayor have conflicting responsibilities. It is the mayor’s job to secure the city’s interests in Albany; it is the governor’s job to consider the city’s interests within the context of the entire state. As the two leading elected officials in a populous and nationally influential state, the governor and mayor cannot avoid friction or even over collusion; their cooperation is always tense.”
There are also federal influences and third parties which add to the complexity and conflict involved in policymaking in New York State. Minor parties are influential on
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Approximate Word count = 1591
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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