Much has changed since the first edition of Politics in Georgia was published in 1997, yet much about Georgia politics has remained the same. In the introduction to the first edition, the major historical changes that we stressed were government restructuring, the declining influence of rural areas, the growing clout of blacks and the Republican Party, and a proliferation of interest groups. The continuing patterns that we highlighted were racial conflict, the political influence of business, limited regulation of campaigns, and low voter turnout. Outside the political realm, we emphasized Georgia’s rapid population and economic growth along with its poor...

Americans often take their political system for granted. Indeed, they might not appreciate how innovative the Framers of the Constitution were in establishing federalism, a unique invention that gives certain powers to the national government, others to the states, and some to both. Such an arrangement differs greatly from that in a unitary political system, as in Great Britain, where the national government possesses all authority and decides what powers and responsibilities lesser governments should have. This system also contrasts with a confederation, where independent states turn over limited powers to a larger government, as was tried in the United...

A variety of factors influence Georgia’s political institutions and practices. As with any other state, understanding politics today requires considering the historical, social, and economic factors that have shaped the state’s politics.¹

Georgia’s political development has not always been smooth; in fact, sometimes it has been downright tumultuous. A brief overview of seven periods demonstrates that a variety of events in Georgia history still affect the state’s political culture and institutions.

The Creek and Cherokee nations inhabited much of what is now Georgia before the advance of European settlers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.² Names of major rivers reflect...

This chapter examines Georgia’s current constitution, compares it to its nine predecessors and other state constitutions, and explains its connection to the U.S. Constitution. Constitutions are important because they establish the basic rules of the game for any political system. They specify the authority of government, distribute power among participants in the political system, and establish fundamental procedures for conducting public business and protecting rights.

Just as drawing up or changing the rules can affect the outcome of a game, the particulars of constitutions can help determine who wins or loses politically. For this reason, constitutions should be thought of...

Public opinion is the foundation for participation and helps set the limits of acceptable action by government officials and others. Candidates, the media, parties, interest groups, and others also expend great effort to understand or influence public opinion. People often hold diverse opinions, a situation that can make it difficult for policy makers to decide what to do regarding a particular issue. On some occasions, the public may line up overwhelmingly on one side of a question; at other times, large numbers of people are undecided or have no opinion about an issue. Still, a variety of organizations use polls...

Electoral participation in Georgia has long been a source of scholarly curiosity and public debate. Historically, this interest focused on factionalism under one-party Democratic rule, use of the county-unit system and runoff elections, low voter turnout, and the power of interest groups. Since the 1970s, however, a variety of changes have reshaped Georgia politics, especially in the areas of political parties, black political gains, and the growing power of suburban voters.

This chapter and the next focus on political participation. This chapter examines different types of elections, electoral procedures, voter turnout, and voting trends, while chapter 6 contrasts voting to...

Americans may take political parties and interest groups for granted, but both have received extensive criticism. The earliest and most vocal critics included the drafters of the U.S. Constitution, who designed the American political system to control what James Madison labeled in The Federalist no. 10 the “mischiefs of faction.” Madison complained about the many factors that “divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to cooperate for their common good.” Nonetheless, political parties developed during George Washington’s tenure as the nation’s first president, and interest...

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution expected legislatures to be the branch of government closest to the people. In Thomas Jefferson’s view, legislators were to be citizen-lawmakers who applied the values of the community to government without placing themselves above average citizens.

The U.S. Congress and many states have left behind the idea of the citizen-legislator in favor of the professional politician. The Georgia General Assembly, however, may be characterized as a citizen legislature in that members must maintain other sources of income, districts are relatively small, and most members have no ambitions for higher office. Yet the General Assembly,...

Two important features characterize Georgia’s complex executive branch: the workings of the plural executive and dramatic changes in recent decades. Unlike the national government or a private business, where a chief executive chooses and fires key subordinates, most states use a plural executive in which authority is divided among a state’s governor and a series of elected department heads. Voters around the country choose just over three hundred executive officials in statewide elections—a very slight decline since the early 1970s. Ten states also elect members to multimember boards.¹ A few exceptions to this system of dissipated authority exist. The...

The U.S. legal system includes a complex set of institutions and participants—courts, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and a wide range of others, among them agencies such as corrections systems and law enforcement (see chapter 11). Complexity also occurs because of U.S. federalism. Because Americans are citizens of both the United States as a whole and a particular state, they fall under the jurisdiction of two constitutions and two sets of laws. In effect, the national government operates one legal system, while the fifty states operate a parallel set of legal systems.¹

Complexity also exists because of the many types of...

Georgia had more than 1,400 local governments in 2002, and the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau count will undoubtedly show that the number has continued to increase. This chapter considers the state’s crucial role in controlling local governments, describes the organization and functions of local governments, examines citizen participation and policy making in Georgia communities, and compares Georgia to other states. These are important topics because Georgians depend on local governments for a wide range of basic daily services, including police and fire protection, water, and schools. Georgians also expect local officials to be accessible and responsive to concerns. Yet the...

This chapter draws from the rest of the book and other research to provide an overview of the policy process in Georgia state government and to analyze several major policy areas. It also makes comparisons to earlier periods and contrasts Georgia with the federal government and other states before concluding with a discussion of the future of Georgia politics.

Policy can be considered a government’s course of action in response to a perceived problem. Policies may be contradictory: perhaps the most obvious example is the federal government subsidizing tobacco growers yet trying to discourage people from smoking. Government inaction also...