city government

As cities developed into political corporations, a new element entered welfare work: an organizing citizenry. Through their town councils, citizens claimed the authority to administer the ecclesiastical welfare work of hospitals and poor relief. The process was accelerated by the reformers, whose theology undercut the medieval…

…contrasts in the structures of city government. In the United States, for example, three principal types of city government are usually distinguished: the council-manager form, the mayor-council form, and the commission form.

…and sophistication of the preindustrial city, it remained a minority experience. Full participation in urban life was available to no more than the 3 or 4 percent of the population who were city dwellers in 3rd-millennium-bce Egypt and Mesopotamia and to the 10 to 15 percent of Romans who lived…

…decentralization and depopulation of many cities as old manufacturing industries decline and new service industries move out to the suburbs and small towns. For the first time since the onset of industrialization, the countryside begins to gain population and the cities begin to lose it.

Urban poverty posed the biggest threat to governments. The situation became alarming after 1750 because the rise in population forced food prices up, while the employers’ advantage in the labour market depressed wages. Between 1730 and 1789, living costs in France rose by 62 percent;…

…chief source of revenue for local governments. State governments once used the tax as an important source of revenue, but few states now get more than a small percentage of their revenue from this source. Many state governments, however, assess some or all of the operating property of railroads and…