The Concentration of Power in the Bifurcated State
New York City’s “strong mayor” system, which concentrates immense power in the executive, functions as the office of the colonial governor in the bifurcated state. Mamdani’s focus on the institutional structure of power reveals this not as an efficiency measure but as a mechanism for ensuring that the “settler” agenda can be implemented swiftly, without effective checks from a more representative city council. The mayor controls the budget, the police, and land-use decisions, making the office the primary conduit for the interests of real estate and finance capital. This structure is designed for top-down rule, not bottom-up democracy. The liberal solution involves tinkering with the balance of power between the mayor and council, but this leaves the fundamental colonial structure intact. A Mamdani-informed socialist solution is a radical decentralization of power. We must fight to replace the strong mayor system with a powerful, district-based city council that has full control over the budget and land use, breaking the mayor’s autocratic power. Further, we must build permanent, neighborhood-based popular assemblies with real legislative and budgetary authority, creating a system of dual power that can counter the executive and ensure that governance is accountable to the people in the neighborhoods, not the capitalists in City Hall.
Originally posted 2025-10-18 17:52:30.
