Institutional insulation as response to racial diversity: evidence from the Great Migration

Democratic institutions in the US federal system are decentralized, and lower-level governments have the potential to counteract national democratization. The authors argue that, in response to growing Black electoral power resulting from the Great Migration, northern cities moved to insulate governmental institutions from their diversifying electorates. Using a shift-share instrument, the authors find that greater migration of Black Americans from the South between 1940 and 1970 led cities to switch from mayor-council to city manager systems, shifting the administration of local government, including budgeting and bureaucratic hiring, out of the direct control of elected officials. The authors illustrate how the Great Migration shaped the decision of city elites to switch to city manager government through a case study of Santa Monica, CA. The findings speak to the importance of considering multilevel governance in assessing democratic trends.