Research

The New American Political (Dis)Order

Robert A. Dahl
Austin Ranney
Richard M. Abrams
David W. Brady
Patrick Chamorel
Jack Citrin
1994

Robert A. Dahl, America's foremost political theorist analyses the current dysfunction in political decision making and the collapse of communications between citizens and their leaders. Five scholars from Berkeley and Stanford respond.

Economic Earthquakes: Converting Defense Cuts to Economic Opportunities

Patrick Lloyd Hatcher
1994

In the 90s, California's economy bounced back after a decade of sharp cuts in defense spending. In three excellent case studies, Hatcher explains how out-moded military bases were converted into community productive assets.

California's Practical Period: Cultural Context of the Emerging University, 1850's-1870's

Gunther Barth
1994

Barth examines higher education in nineteenth-century California, drawing connections between the 1855 College of California (and its successor, the 1868 University of California) and the elements of design that evolved out of the early cemetery and park traditions. He stresses the character of the men of this "practical period," particularly their political, economic, and intellectual behavior. Acutely aware of the complex relationship between land and ideas, and dreams and practicality, Barth captures the ironies of their juxtaposition in early California.

The Speaker's Electoral Connection: Willie Brown and the California Assembly

Richard A. Clucas
1995

From the acrimonious battle over redistricting in the early 1980s to recent efforts to solve California's economic problems, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown has been in the center of the Golden State's major political and policy debates. Few politicians have played as dominant or controver­sial a role for as long as Brown, one of the nation's most powerful African-American politicians.

Building on the theoretical ideas developed by Richard Fenno and David Mayhew, this book argues that the key to understanding legislative leadership and Brown's involvement in elections is in...

The Origins of the Chancellorship: The Buried Report of 1948

Eugene C. Lee
1994

In 1948, the University of California, facing dramatic enrollment pressures and the need for new campuses, was at an organizational crossroads. Outside consultants recommended a decentralized administration with strong campus executives. The president disagreed and pressed for strengthened central control. The outside consultants’ report conveniently disappeared.

"[A]n illuminating, authoritative, and balanced account....Lee is the one person in the best position to review this important aspect of the history of the University of California....Few people have both written so well...

Constitutional Reform in California: Making State Government More Effective and Responsive

Bruce E. Cain
Roger G. Noll
1995

California’s Constitutional Revision Commission assembled the state's leading scholars to investigate how the structure of the constitution affects state and local government. Their proposals for far-reaching and innovative reform incorporate ideas from across the political spectrum and form a benchmark for future debate about California governance.

The University and the Constitutional Convention of 1878

Peter Van Houten
1996

These paired essays, one about the University's physical campus, the other about a change in its constitutional status, focus on the five-year period from 1873 to 1878, an era when agriculture emerged as a major force in higher education.

Governing California: Politics, Government, and Public Policy in the Golden State

Gerald C. Lubenow
1997

Diversity and change are hallmarks of California political life, and the changes often chart new paths for other states to follow. California blazed a trail to direct democracy, personal politics, disdain for parties, professional campaign consultants, huge campaign budgets, and modern media techniques. This book explains how this diverse, entrepreneurial, and individualistic collection of people functions politically, how its most important institutions of government operate, and how it makes public policy. There are surprisingly few good books on California politics and government...

A Western Acropolis of Learning: The University of California in 1897

Roy Lowe
1996

Phoebe Hearst's 1897 International Competition for a new architectural plan for the Berkeley campus took place in a setting of pervasive Anglo Saxonism. Lowe sketches the arguments for a suitable academic style for the University, uncovers signs of racial prejudice, and explains how this prejudice for Anglo-Saxon and northern European styles produced the winners of the competition and the unique plan adopted for the University.

The Beleaguered College: Essays on Educational Reform

Joseph Tussman
1997

The central theme of these remarkable essays is the attempt to establish at UC Berkeley in the late 1960s a radically different form of lower-division liberal education. In giving the rationale and telling the story of the program, its establishment, and its failure to become a permanent part of the Berkeley educational scene, Joseph Tussman analyzes the shortcomings of the conventional pattern of undergraduate education almost universal in America today—a pattern so deeply entrenched as to make serious reform, however needed or desirable, extremely difficult.

Tussman offers a novel...