ABSTRACT
If the preceding papers with their focus upon the chronic physical infirmities and spiritual disaffection of contemporary “urbanitis” have left the reader with the impression that a typical metropolitan governance scheme is an accident awaiting a location, it remains for this monograph to chart some dangerous intersections. At this late hour in the governance crisis, that combination of determined and passive force which sustains the status quo is threatened with assault by an ancient, but heretofore little-used weapon—litigation in the hands of politically and economically disadvantaged. As an alternative to the ad hoc political alliances necessary to the formation of even a temporarily effective “crisis constituency,” this appeal to a nonmajoritarian tribunal offers both speed and relative precision to groups which, to this hour, have been either noncombatants or inneffective forces. The following pages will explore both the origin and dynamics of this strategy, and offer suggestions regarding its potential impact.
