ABSTRACT:This paper describes and analyzes the nature of the New Orleans urban regime focusing on the first term of Sidney Barthelemy, the second black mayor of New Orleans (1986–1990). First, because the authors believe that regime theory needs to be more carefully theorized in relation to racial politics, they begin by discussing the changing relationship of blacks to the prevailing New Orleans regime. Second, in analyzing this racial politics, they focus on the relationship between the evolving structure of the electoral coalition, governing coalition development strategies, and the stability of the governing regime. They conclude that a caretaker regime is very difficult to maintain in a city with a recent majority black electorate. Such an electoral coalition has a tendency to support either a progressive or corporate regime. Finally, the authors pay particular attention to the development of the consensus‐seeking para‐apparatus, its relationship to racial politics, and its affect on development policy, governing coalition politics, and regime trans