Raphael Sonenshein

Raphael J. Sonenshein (born 1949) is a professor of political science at California State University, Fullerton. Teaching at the college since 1982, Sonenshein holds a bachelors in public policy at Princeton University and a doctorate in political science from Yale University. His books, Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles and The City at Stake: Secession, Reform, and the Battle for Los Angeles remain the only books that comprehensively detail the political history of Los Angeles in the last fifty years.

He served as executive director of the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission that replaced the city's 1925 charter. It was the first successful and comprehensive reform of the city's charter that lead to the creation of neighborhood councils, area planning commisions, and greater power for Los Angeles’ mayor.

He is a nephew of retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Nathan Sonenshein.[1]