St. Louis Politics: Relationships Among Interests, Parties, and Governmental Structure
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296001300214 |
| Date | 01 June 1960 |
| Published date | 01 June 1960 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
498
ST.
LOUIS
POLITICS:
RELATIONSHIPS
AMONG
INTERESTS,
PARTIES,
AND
GOVERNMENTAL
STRUCTURE*
ROBERT H.
SALISBURY
Washington
University,
St.
Louis
OLITICAL
SCIENTISTS
have
been
troubled
in
recent
years
by
just
what
it
is
they
mean
when
they
talk
about
a
political
party.
Whether
the
dis-
JL
cussion
concentrates
on
the
American
scene
or
includes
comparative
data
from
other
countries,
the
ambiguity
of
party
as
an
analytical
tool
remains.
Par-
ticularly
difficult
and
very
largely
untouched
by
specific
empirical
analysis
are
the
relationships
which
connect
core
party
organizations,
the
social
and
economic
interest
group
configuration,
and
the
formal
governmental
structure
of
a
com-
munity.
Whereas
some
political
scientists
have
assumed
the
crucial
importance
of
the
formal
structure
in
shaping
the
political
life
of
the
community,
others
have
tended
to
regard
structure
as
largely
irrelevant
and
to
argue
instead
that
the
only
significant
variables
were
embraced
in
interest
group
activity.
This
paper
will
offer
a
synopsis
of
the
situation
in
one
city,
St.
Louis,
Missouri,
in
an
effort
to
suggest
the
ways
in
which
the
three
factors
mentioned
are
interrelated.
The
burden
of
the
argument
here
is
that
a
somewhat
peculiar
bifurcated
structure
of
local
government
plays
a
crucial
role
in
shaping
the
nature
and
scope
of
political
conflict
in
the
city.
Two
broad
interest
groupings
in
St.
Louis,
each
composed
of
rather
loosely
allied
groups
and
each
pursuing
different
sets
of
goals
in
the
political
arena,
are
enabled
to
live
under
the
same
party
label
by
the
fact
that
each
grouping
can
control
one
segment
of
the
governmental
structure
and
from
that
control
secure
the
portion
of
its
goals
most
vital
to
it.
Neither
group
gains
complete
satisfaction
thereby,
but
the
consequence
is
that
the
two
groups
are
not
forced
into
the
full
range
of
sharp
competition
that
a
more
centralized
and
monolithic
structure
might
require.
THE
INTERESTS
The
constellation
of
social
and
economic
interests
which
make
up
the
body
politic
of
St.
Louis
is
like
in
some
ways
and
in
some
ways
unlike
that
of
other
major
American
cities.
In
common
with
other
metropolitan
centers,
the
St.
Louis
area
has
experienced
rapid
growth
in
the
post-World
War
II
period,
but
unlike
most
other
cities,
this
growth
has
taken
place
almost
entirely
outside
the
city
limits,
which
were
fixed
by
constitutional
provision
in
1876.
The
growth
of
the
St.
Louis
area,
further,
has
not
kept
pace
with
many
other
parts
of
the
country,
particularly
because
the
hinterland
of
the
city
has
not
grown
much.
Consequently,
St.
Louis
business
leaders
have
been
concerned
to
bring
new
in-
dustry
to
the
city,
and
this
effort
has
spurred
the
desire,
shared
by
other
metrop-
olises,
to
solve
traffic
and
transit
problems,
to
renovate
and
rehabilitate
slum
areas,
and
to
revive
the
downtown
business
district.
material
for
this
paper
has
been
drawn
from
a
larger
study
of
St.
Louis
politics
in
which
the
writer
is
engaged
in
association
with
G.
Robert
Blackburn.
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