Civic Culture and Governmentality in the Politics of Growth and Local Economic Development in Lawrence, Kansas

Leading theories on the politics of local economic development have been anemic in their ability to explain variation among cities regarding economic development policies, priorities, and community support for such activities. This can be addressed through a thorough examination of civic culture using ethnographic methods. Furthermore, governmentality provides a lens for examining the rationalities underpinning government initiatives concerning local economic development while addressing how these rationalities reinforce existing power relations within a community. This study draws on several political controversies as well as interviews with City Commissioners who served from 2007 to 2009 to identify thernane competing values and social structures that characterize Lawrence's civic culture while also constructing the competing governmentalities that frame issues of governance in Lawrence.