CITB04H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Robert A. Dahl, Toronto City
Lecture: The Mayor and the Members of Council
-Low in terms of diversity within the councillors
-1 woman
-Talk to a certain group of councillors and ask them to support a law they want to pass.
Then talk to another group of support councillors and then later ask the mayor.
-Always negotiating, creating a relationship and support notions that will support one’s
own principles
-Various departments and layers prevents people from receiving the full picture when
creating a policy
A. Urban Pluralism
- Advanced by Robert Dahl in the 1960s
- Many different interests that play a role in decision-making
-Interests are represented by various, competing groups
-Municipal council is a “referee,” making sure no single interest wins all the time
- As long as system is fair and everyone wins some of the time, everyone should be
happy
-The theoretical justification for “business as usual” – has never been applied to Canada
-How decisions were made in Connecticut
-Broker who tries to balance competing interests, and there is a neutral arbitrary who
makes things happen
-Idealistic perspective
B. Urban Regimes:
-Advanced by American Clarence Stone (1989)
- Argues that there is an informal partnership between city council and business interests
-The informal groups have access to institutional resources
-Each side needs the other, which produces stable decision- making
-Not all informal groups are business groups
-Stable decision making model, that can put in place measures that can operationalize
-Municipality needs to recognize the interest different around development
-Applied to times to Canadian municipal politics
-All of the interest groups MUST relate to development
-City council and business interest (balance)
Roles and Responsibilities
Decision Making Model and The Role of the Public
-Lays out what the decision maing process is and the various parties
-Roles of the mayos and the councillors, intersection of these parties in the decision
making
A. City Council
-Toronto's City Council is made up of the Mayor and 44 Councillors
- Toronto City Council has direct responsibility for the City’s services (and other major
services like TTC).
-In terms of municipal decision make, the city council must make most of the decision
making
-Not much delegation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture: the mayor and the members of council. Low in terms of diversity within the councillors. Talk to a certain group of councillors and ask them to support a law they want to pass. Then talk to another group of support councillors and then later ask the mayor. Always negotiating, creating a relationship and support notions that will support one"s own principles. Various departments and layers prevents people from receiving the full picture when creating a policy: urban pluralism. Many different interests that play a role in decision-making. Municipal council is a referee, making sure no single interest wins all the time. As long as system is fair and everyone wins some of the time, everyone should be happy. The theoretical justification for business as usual has never been applied to canada. Broker who tries to balance competing interests, and there is a neutral arbitrary who makes things happen.
