Once More into the Breach

Abstract

Although superficially the prospects for metropolitan government in the United States are still dismissed as politically whimsical, latent forces are at work that bring structural regional reform back on the public agenda. Not only is there a resurgence of scholarly interest, but more importantly, major economic and political considerations both argue for new coalitions encouraging metropolitan collaboration. Persistent inequities and redundancy in local government and the need to adopt global perspectives suggest that genuine changes may be underway.