Amazon.com description: Product Description: The Decline of Urban Politics is a lucidly written discussion of the transformation in local politics in the US since the 1950s. Gottdiener argues that local politics has become increasingly concerned with managing the quality of local life. This process has significant implications both for the management of cities and for citizen participation. He also evaluates political theories currently used in urban politics. The conclusions force us to re-evaluate our conventional understanding of local political processes and political theory.