The Nature of Metropolitan Governance in Urban America

Abstract

The evidence in this study demonstrates that the dominant pattern of metropolitan governance in the Kansas City metro area across 46 cities and 28 public services is one of intergovernmental cooperation, punctuated by conflict. Contrary to what would be predicted by theories of cooperation, the scope of cooperation is negatively related to the number and percent of joint intergovernmental service arrangements and that the scope of cooperation increases when a municipality transfers a service to another public entity or a municipality specializes in a regional service.