Ties That Bind

This empirical chapter explores the dynamics of city delegation theory, the glue that helps hold together the urban political order’s pieces. The first half of the chapter takes a close look at the New York and Chicago city delegations in action, emphasizing the role of different institutions in holding the delegations together. The second half of the chapter includes statistical tests of city delegation theory, including an innovative dyadic framework, demonstrating that strong local institutions are associated with greater delegation cohesion. Together, these analyses illustrate that city representatives defend the interests of not only their own constituencies, but of their entire city. The analyses also show that the strength of local institutions of horizontal integration (IHIs) developed to order local government, also promote delegation cohesion in national representation.