Contemporary Chicago Politics
Contemporary Chicago Politics
Myth, Reality, and Neoliberalism
What was once a descriptor—Chicago as the last major American city government governed by a political machine—has become a trope, an all-purpose means of explaining public policy aims, achievements, and failures. The nearer-to-reality narrative that captures the essence of Chicago public policy trends in the last generation is neoliberalism. During the long tenure of Mayor Richard M. Daley Chicago’s demolition of high-rise public housing developments, public school restructuring, and long-term leasing of public assets both tracked broader neoliberal policy trends, and in some cases, represented the leading edge of such innovations. Nevertheless, many journalists and some scholars insist on interpreting Chicago politics and policy through the lens of personal corruption and partisan cronyism presumed to be the fundamental attributes of ward-based Democratic Party politics
Keywords: neoliberalism, Chicago, political machine, Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley, Rahm Emanuel, privatization, Chicago Housing Authority, Plan for Transformation, Chicago Public Schools
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