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EXPLAINING COMMUNITY DECISION MAKING IN THE 1989 GREEKFEST INCIDENT IN VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA: AN APPLICATION OF SYSTEMIC POWER THEORY
Author(s) -
Banks Manley Elliott,
Jones Charles E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1994.tb00400.x
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , pluralism (philosophy) , elite , public administration , power (physics) , political science , sociology , law , politics , philosophy , linguistics , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics
In 1989, the City of Virginia Beach sought to discourage thousands of young African‐American college students from holding their annual festival in the city. The policy failed and a major civil disorder occurred. This study explores the city's decision‐making process on this issue. The alternative explanations provided by elite, pluralism, and systemic power theories are examined, It is determined that the systemic power theory provides the most appropriate explanation. According to this theory, government officials are favorably biased toward the interests of the upper strata of their community unless they are effectively checked by popular constraints. In this instance, an unelected official, the city manager, made the policy. Consequently, the policy reflected the interests of the city's largest tourist‐related businesses. The significance of this study is that its findings strongly challenge the appropriateness of the council‐manager form of government for cities with populations as large and as heterogeneous as that of Virginia Beach. Indeed, the strong‐mayor form of government is recommended for these cities.