There is a definite impetus to come prepared, though. D uring the semester, City Politics winds its way chronologically from James Madison to Tammany Hall to today's urban problems. Morone warns his class that viewing politics as a layer cake with distinct levels is simplistic. In fact, he explains, the fragmented and mixed layers of federal, state, and local governments more closely resemble a marble cake. As czars, they are in charge of coordinating the thousands of agencies, on multiple levels, that are supposed to carry out Clinton's urban policy.
Public agencies compete just as private ones do.
It's not in their interest to coordinate, so it's difficult for there to be an effective czar. In 1983, Morone, fresh out of grad school, was asked to raise enrollment in City Politics from thirty to 100. Within three years, more than 400 students were signing up for the course. If anything, City Politics is a class about the impediments, both historical and structural, that stand in the way of solving urban problems. The burden on cities has been growing in recent years, he explains, as the stature of the federal government has become diminished in the public's mind.