No general consensus exists concerning the status of American State and local government and intergovernmental relations as fields within the discipline of political science. Any attempt to make such an evaluation by gauging the attention given to these subjects in colleges and universities should distinguish between the two basic roles of American higher educational institutions—research and teaching.

Some observers have noted that in recent years political scientists have become increasingly interested in conducting research in American State and local government. As late as 1963, however, a large number of the members of the American Political Science Association responding to a questionnaire survey of trends in their discipline indicated that State and local government were areas in which the least significant work was being done. Yet, five years later, in a symposium on the advance of political science as a discipline, it was contended that:

State and local politics as a field of political science is no longer a ‘lost world’ or the site of ‘Dullsville.’ Rather than being the laggard of the discipline that some political scientists perceive it to be, the study of state and local politics has reentered the mainstream of political research. Much of the work in political science which has influenced the drift of the profession has been within its domain.