Study of New York State government and politics published; edited by New Paltz professor

NEW PALTZ – Oxford University Press has published The Oxford Handbook of New York State Government, edited by Gerald Benjamin, director of the Center for Research, Regional Engagement and Outreach (CRREO) and distinguished professor of political science at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Sam Roberts remarked in The New York Times on The Oxford Handbook of New York State Government and Politics’ “keen insights from … academicians and pragmatic practitioners of politics and policy in the Empire State.” “This is a book meant,” Roberts continued, “for people who take state government very seriously.” It is a wide-ranging collection of new scholarship considering key areas of governance in New York over 1,056 pages organized in 31 chapters. The result, the publisher says, is an “unusually comprehensive, detailed, and systematic study of this unique and influential state” that chronicles the history and operation of New York’s political parties, campaign finance, lobbying and interest group systems, the state legislature, the governorship, the judiciary, and the state’s “foreign policy.”

The book is organized in five sections examining the state constitution, state political processes, state governmental institutions, intergovernmental relations, and management and policy areas. Policy areas that the book addresses include health care, mental health, public safety, economic development, transportation, energy policy, and the environment. Benjamin himself authored the chapter on the state’s political parties and an introduction to the book on “The Study of New York State Government.” “I am very pleased to have this opportunity, in association with a great group of scholars and public servants, to advance serious, thoughtful study of New York,” Benjamin said.