Jeremiah Cha (APRW)

Speaker

Jeremiah Cha, "Political Deliberation in Local Politics"

Abstract

Since the birth of the American Republic, scholars have highlighted the pivotal role of local politics in shaping American civic life. Despite this fundamental role in the U.S. political system, the study of local policymaking remains a challenge due to its decentralized nature and the sheer number of governing bodies involved. This project introduces a novel dataset of city council minutes across 78 cities from 2016 to 2022. In total, the dataset contains 9,307 documents, which serve as the authoritative record of legislative actions during city council meetings. To analyze the content of these documents, I leverage supervised machine learning algorithms to discern the prevalence of six key local issues: housing and homelessness, taxation, policing, explicit race/ethnic mentions, public transit, and zoning changes. The findings suggest a remarkable stability in the agendas of city councils over time, thereby bolstering theories of limited agenda control. I conclude with potential applications of this data as well as implications for local democracy.

The American Politics Research Workshop (Gov 3004) presents an opportunity for graduate students and Harvard faculty to present and receive feedback on their current research. The workshop highlights key theoretical and empirical findings from Harvard affiliates on topics related to American politics. 

All interested Harvard affiliates are invited to attend.