Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan

When the 2011 municipal takeover in Flint, Michigan placed the city under state control, some supported the intervention while others saw it as an affront to democracy. Still others were ambivalent about what was supposed to be a temporary disruption. However, the citys fiscal emergency soon became a public health emergencythe Flint Water Crisisthat captured international attention. But how did Flints municipal takeovers, which suspended local representational government, alter the local political system? In Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan, Ashley Nickels addresses the ways residents, groups, and organizations were able to participate politicallyor notduring the citys municipal takeovers in 2002 and 2011. She explains how new politics were created as organizations developed, new coalitions emerged and evolved, and peoples understanding of municipal takeovers changed. Inwalking readers through the policy history of, implementation of, and reaction to Flints two municipal takeovers, Nickels highlights how the ostensibly apolitical policy is, in fact, highly political.