'Thinking Locally': Law, Aging, and Municipal Government: Findings from a National Survey
Posted: 17 Oct 2012
Date Written: October 17, 2012
Abstract
In an increasingly globalized world, advocates for the rights of older persons have, in recent years, looked primarily to international law as the source of and tool for enforcing an expanded concept of “elder rights.”
However, for many reasons, municipal law plays a far more important role in the everyday lives of most persons, including older persons, than the principally aspirational concepts embedded within the largely abstract confines of international human rights documents.
In this article, we report and discuss the results of a U.S.-based national survey of local governments conducted for the purpose of determining how these governments have exercised their authority with regard to the rights and privileges of older persons. Specifically, we have examined the municipal codes of towns and cities across the U.S. to identify the extent to which these codes contain language or provisions that specifically aim to address the economic, social, cultural, or other needs of older persons broadly defined.
Keywords: Municipal law, Elder rights, Local government, Human Rights
JEL Classification: K19, K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation