The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus: Institution Building in a Political Fragmented Metropolitan Region

Abstract

The Mayors Caucus began as a forum to foster cooperation among the municipalities in the Chicago metropolitan region. After its establishment, the Mayors Caucus became a regional stakeholder, representing the mayors in coalitions with the region’s civic organizations, developing a legislative action team to pass legislation in the Illinois General Assembly, and serving as a forum for regional consensus building. This research is a case study of the development of the Mayors Caucus as a new institution established to overcome the region’s extreme government fragmentation and decades of city—suburban hostility.