CITY POWER - URBAN GOVERNANCE IN A GLOBAL AGE

In 2013, Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. That dubious honor marked the end of a long decline, during which city leaders slashed municipal costs and sought desperately to attract private investment. That same year, an economically resurgent New York City elected a progressive mayor intent on reducing income inequality and spurring more equitable economic development. Whether or not Mayor Bill de Blasio realizes his legislative vision, his agenda raises a fundamental question: can American cities govern or are they relatively powerless in the face of global capital? Both Detroit's demise and reigning theories of city agency suggest that in a world dominated by footloose transnational capital, cities have little capacity to effect social change. Cities have to "compete" with each other by offering favorable deals to corporations, reducing tax rates, limiting the public sector, and pursuing "business-friendly" policies. The notion that cities can do little but make themselves attractive to global capital also underscores a pervasive skepticism of municipal politics. Conventional economic wisdom asserts that cities cannot do very much. Conventional political wisdom asserts that cities should not do very much.