Maine Politics and Government

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Maine Politics and Government

Second Edition

Kenneth T. Palmer, G. Thomas Taylor, Marcus A. LiBrizzi, and Jean E. Lavigne

Politics and Governments of the American States Series

308 pages
3 maps, 9 tables

Paperback

December 2009

978-0-8032-8785-3

$30.00 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

December 2009

978-0-8032-2647-0

$30.00 Add to Cart

About the Book

Remote and thinly populated, Maine was long insulated from many of the demographic and economic trends of states to the south. Maine Politics and Government traces recent changes in the state’s system as agriculture, manufacturing, and maritime trades have ceded dominance to high-tech businesses, extensive commercial development, and an expanding governmental sector.
 
This compact overview of Maine politics and government describes how the state’s history and political culture have shaped its political processes, its governing institutions, and its public-policy priorities. It also highlights the shift in the role of Maine’s governments in the past half century—from low-service entities to administrators of a broad range of public policies. The authors consider the impact of the influx of newcomers along the southern Maine coast, serious financial issues involving burdensome taxation, the pressing need to make the nearly five hundred units of local government more efficient, and problems attending the spread of suburbs throughout the state.
 
Fully updated and expanded, this second edition provides a wealth of new material—maps, case studies, updated demographic information, treatment of new policies and health-care plans, and an overview of the administrations of the two most recent governors.

Author Bio

Kenneth T. Palmer is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Maine.
 
G. Thomas Taylor is a professor of public administration at the University of Maine.
 
Marcus A. LiBrizzi is an associate professor of English at the University of Maine, Machias.
 
Jean E. Lavigne has taught at the University of Maine and was the director of Graduate Programs in Public Administration.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Maps

Authors’ Preface to Second Edition 

Authors’ Preface to First Edition  

ONE

State of the State     

TWO

Maine’s Political Culture: The New England Frontier     

THREE

Maine’s Traditional Politics and Its Transformation  

FOUR

Contemporary Maine Politics  

FIVE

The Constitutional Tradition 

SIX

The State Legislature  

SEVEN

The Governor and the Administration

EIGHT

The Court System 

NINE

Maine’s Budget as Policy     

TEN

Contemporary Policy Concerns 

ELEVEN

Maine in the Federal System  

TWELVE

Local Government 

THIRTEEN

Substate Regionalism and State-Local Relations 

FOURTEEN

Concluding Observations

FIFTEEN

Maine Documents and Sources  

Notes

Index

 

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