You select the city of Denton for this Assignment. Asset Building Community Development of Gary Paul Green & Anna Haines. 4th Edition Chapter 11: Political Capital is the book for reference. Make sure you are in the range of 300 words. You can analyze with Reputational power of the city of Denton. Plagiarism Check, please.
The following video on Saul Alinsky will underscore many ideas on political capital. Recall from your reading that Alinsky is the “Father” of community organizing and political action.
Watch The Democratic Promise (YouTube) (Links to an external site.) https://youtu.be/0WEeVGSz-qo to learn more about Saul Alinsky.
An alternative is to examine these two websites on the elite and pluralism approaches to community political action.
Pluralism in government (Links to an external site.)
Power elite (Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
Assignment Criteria
Continue to work on the political capital section of your community mapping project. Analyze the local power structure in your community using the three methods, reputational, positional and decision-making. You may explore various resources. Just find one. I am going to now offer some different sources to research but you only need to select one to analyze. For instance, Consider exploring the city website and its political structure (i.e. mayor and council, and or city manager). Is there a recent council agenda and meeting minutes you can review to explore a recent local decision? Another source is the local new outlet. See if you can find an article about an important community development decision in the community. Another resource is the city’s social media page. Is there any conversation about important community issues? Who is engaged in the conversation. Who holds power relative to elected officials, city officials, and the general public. What strategies does your community appear to be using to increase the diversity of public voice in the local planning process? Compare your results. Is there any overlap in findings? How would you characterize the differences? You may want to start by visiting your community/city’s website. Who is the mayor? Who are the members of the city council? These may be great places to start. The city’s new releases may also provide insight on major decisions the city council recently made.
Consider the following approaches when analyzing the different types of power in your community. I realize you may not have a deep connection with your community’s local power structure. Please use at least one of the methods of power listed below to discussion your findings. You should include a direct reference and elaborate on its relevance in the context of asset based community development.
Positional
Consider the make-up and structure of the local political system. Is your community a Council-Manager form of government or strong mayor? A Council-Manager form means the Council appoints a city manager to work on their behalf and in this case the mayor is there to break a tie and serve more in a ceremonial position. In a strong mayor form the mayor is the administrator for the city. If you are analyzing a community such as Oak Cliff, identify your council member? Check out their Facebook page or website. Do they engage with the community members or just post meeting information.
Reputational
This is a method to consider the extent someone’s influence has placed them in a situation of power. A variety of local news sources may be a good resource for this information.
Decision-making
This method suggests you look at a particular event and consider the players involved and how the decision ended up for the community. The news may also be a good resource here. Can you identify the actors in the situation? Is it possible to determine the critical issue affecting the community and who was able to influence the outcome? Did community members have a strong voice in the decision making process? You may also look at recent issues considered by the city council or the zoning commission.
Please prepare and submit your summary in 200 words, provide a direct reference to the course material and cite your reference APA style.
