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In recent years many scholars have contributed to the development of Marxist analyses of urban political economy. At the same time, a smaller number of social and political theorists have examined Marx's political theory and identified his theory of public and private life as a central component of his politics. Too often, Marxist analyses of urban political economy do not fully incorporate Marx's political theory. Analyses of Marx's politics, on the other hand, tend to overlook the dimensions of the modern city which illuminate his theory of public and private. This article brings together Marx's urban theory and political theory and suggests that they are, in fact, very much intertwined.

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Globalizing L.A.: Trade, Infrastructure, and Regional Development. By Steven P. Erie. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004. 336p. $55.00 cloth, $21.95 paper.Perhaps the dominant political rhetoric of our time is that which divides society into a self-correcting market and a government, one is the necessary and primary cause of our social ills. Government programs designed to mitigate or solve problems, we are told, unfailingly make the target problem worse and create additional, unforeseen problems. Better to leave well enough alone, even if later we lack the means to travel from our driveway to a workplace nearly one hour away on a good day.

Urban counties must struggle with metropolitan expansion in order to deliver vital urban services. With the passage of the Housing and Community Development Act, urban counties throughout the nation found it necessary to develop the administrative capacity and the intergovernmental network sufficient to implement the Act. Hamilton County, Ohio, offers a typical example of how an urban county implemented CDBG. The result was a small county community development staff that look a pragmatic approach and relied heavily on the recommendations of participating municipalities and townships. The funded projects were primarily oriented toward transportation and public works. These projects, widely dispersed throughout the county, rewarded diverse political interests, generated few political conflicts, and required minimal county staff resources.