Subject(s): State governments in United States. -- Local government in United States. -- New directions for state and local government : Capacity of states and localities, designers and consumers of government, capacity to results -- Federalism and states : History of US federalism, intergovernmental relations, models of federalism, decriminalizing medical Marijuana -- State constitutions : Evolution of state constitutions, constitutional reforms and weaknesses, constitutional change, state responsiveness and constitutional reform -- Citizen participation and elections : Election day law making, citizen access to government, volunteering, effects of citizen participation, butterfly ballots -- Political parties, interest groups and campaigns : Political parties, interest groups, political campaigns -- State legislature : Legislative dynamics, behavior, legislative cue taking, reforms and capacity, relationship with executive branch -- Governors : Office of governor, formal/ informal powers, removal from office, Vigor US governors -- Public administration-budgeting and service delivery : Public employees in state and local government, budgeting in state and local government, personnel policy in state and local government, politics of bureaucracy, quality of public administration -- Judiciary : Structure of stet court systems, judicial decision making, judicial federalism, state court reform -- Structure of local government : Orientations to communities, country government, municipal government, special districts, school districts, communities and governance -- Local leadership and governance : Community power, local executives, legislatures, leadership and capacity -- State-local relations : Distribution of authority, state-local organizations, metropolitics, states and urban policy, states and their rural communities, interaction of state and local governments -- State and local finance : Revenues, political economy of taxation, borrowing and debt, state and local financial relations -- Economic development : Regional differences in economic prosperity, approaches to economic development, politics of economic development, current initiatives, issues in economic development, implications of economic development policy -- Educational policy : Crisis in education, intergovernmental roles in education, actors in education policy, educational innovation in States -- Criminal justice : Crime, intergovernmental roles in criminal justice, criminal justice policy, policy participants interactions, correctional policy, policy alternatives for states and localities, continuing challenges in crime and corrections -- Social welfare and health care policy : Poverty, current social welfare programs, state innovations in social welfare -- Environmental policy : Political economy of environmental protection, intergovernmental relationships, solid waste management, hazardous waste, nuclear waste, environmental justice