Arkansas Politics and Government: Do the People Rule?

Abstract

In this full-scale study of Arkansas politics and government, Diane D. Blair spots many encouraging trends: an upsurge in voter registration and participation, the growth of partisan competition, the increasing influence of women and blacks in state and local government, and the state's provision of more, and more varied, public services. It was not always so. Blair asserts that, in spite of the state's proud motto of Regnat Populus (The People Rule), an unresponsive and sometimes self-serving elite ruled over an apathetic and often oppressed populace for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She explains the causes and consequences of changes in Arkansas and asks whether they are profound and permanent ones or merely transitory changes in symbol and style. In this forward-looking hand-book for general readers and scholars alike, Blair considers the distinctive features of Arkansas politics and the organization and functioning of the state's government. Diane D. Blair, a professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, is the author of "Silent Hattie Speaks: The Personal Journal of Senator Hattie Cara-way" and of numerous articles on Arkansas politics and government. This book is published in association with the Center for the Study of Federalism.