BLACK-POLITICS AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES - THE DETERMINANTS OF LOCAL-GOVERNMENT AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION

Objective. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of bl acks' electoral and interest group resources on city affirmative actio n policies. Method. This research uses OLS regression to analyze data from Nay and Jones's (1989) survey of local governments. Results. Net of region of the country, government structure, and economic condition s, black interest group resources (percentage black and civil rights o rganizations) are key factors in securing comprehensive affirmative ac tion in employment policies. Black electoral resources (political inco rporation) influence the comprehensiveness of affirmative action in co ntracting policies. Conclusions. These findings help us understand pre vious research establishing the link between black population share an d black municipal employment: the association may be due to the politi cal pressure that large black populations exert on elected officials t o pass comprehensive employment policies. The presence of local civil rights organizations may provide an additional avenue for blacks to in fluence local politicians. That black elected officials influence poli cies governing contracts may be due to the lucrative nature of city co ntracts, suggesting that when the stakes are high enough, local politi cs may still be divided along racial lines.