Disneyland Politics : How a Medium-Size City and Corporate Giant Coexist

When Walt Disney decided to build Disneyland in Anaheim, CA in the 1950s, the move presented a puzzle for Anaheim’s government: How would the city balance the interests of private investors against those of the citizenry when the two came into conflict?

Disneyland Politics is a cogent examination of this urban power struggle, which has been playing out for 70 years. The authors show how the city was initially bound to the Disneyland Imperative, which placed the theme park above everything else in the city, including other economic development projects. However, starting in the 1990s, citizens pushed back against the corporation and its supporters, wanting a more balanced public policy agenda and ultimately loosening the stranglehold Disneyland had over the city’s political order.

Recounting the history of Disney’s power in action and the tension between democratic governance and reliance on private investment, Disneyland Politics illustrates how those who pursue alternative agendas attempt to get their way, and how the fight for a more balanced public policy agenda has changed local power dynamics to be less favorable to Disneyland over time.

In the series Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy