Research On Local Government Autonomy Of The United States In The Progressive Era

This thesis deals with the whole historical evolution process of the U.S. local government autonomy system in the Progressive Era and its previous time with a more comprehensive inspection in the close connection with the historical background of the Progressive Era. Meanwhile, the municipal government autonomy reform is highlighted in the thesis. The drawbacks of local governments and social reforms are also introduced on the background of industrialization and urbanization. The advantages and disadvantages of the U.S. local government autonomy are recognized rationally and the development trend of the U.S. local government autonomy is also prospected appropriately. Then the question of its universality is finally raised. Specifically speaking, the thesis can be divided into three parts:The first major part Introduction explains the original reason for selecting this topic, the purpose and meaning of the research, and the analytical framework of this thesis. It combs the domestic and foreign related documents of the topic. The related concepts were also defined. All of the above can be seen as the precondition to make the full preparation for the further discussion.The second major part is the main body. It includes three chapters. Chapter One gives an overview of the U.S. governments and traces the origin of local government autonomy and the historical practice. The U.S. governments have the features of multiple and classification. Especially the local governments can be described as various, flexible and close to the public. Behind the disorderly appearance of the system lies the orderly institutional arrangement. The U. S. local governments set the mode of efficient by highly responding to the diversity of interests of the people. The thoughts of the U.S. local government autonomy may be traced to the time of the early settlers as well as the previous British-based Western European cultural tradition. After the breeding, development and evolution on the North American continent, the U.S. local government autonomy with unique American characteristic finally has formed. Chapter Two elaborates the characteristics of the U.S. Progressive Era and the reforms of the U.S. local government autonomy. Finally several major characteristics of local government autonomy during this period are summarized finally. After the transition to the monopoly stage, maladies occurred at all levels of the governments under industrialization and urbanization, especially in the local governments. The obsolete management was unable to meet the new needs and the local government autonomy is facing a huge crisis. Controversy debates aroused. Ultimately, challenges caused great changes. Represented by the three major municipal management systems, the new system of the local government autonomy gradually formed. In this period the United States local government system gradually matured and ultimately shaped according to the features of local government autonomy in the Progressive Era. The local government autonomy went out of the shadows. Chapter Three explains the historical causes of the phenomenon of the U.S. local government autonomy and its impact. There is historical inevitability of its own for the phenomenon of the U.S. local government autonomy. The role of local government autonomy has both positive and negative effects. The positive effects are still the main aspects despite the controversy. Today we can learn a lot from the U.S. local government autonomy reform in the Progressive Era in many ways.The third major part Conclusion discussed the future trend of the U.S. local government autonomy and its universal value. The problems and prospects of the U.S. local government autonomy are explored in the moderate perspectives. It can be finally concluded that although the U.S. local government autonomy has its own specialty, there are sill some universal values which are worth learning from.