Revolving Gridlock

Revolving Gridlock PDF Author: David W. Brady
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429974345
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Despite the early prospects for bipartisan unity on terrorism initiatives, government gridlock continues on most major issues in the wake of the 2004 elections. In this fully revised edition, political scientists David W. Brady and Craig Volden demonstrate that gridlock is not a product of divided government, party politics, or any of the usual scapegoats. It is, instead, an instrumental part of American government?built into our institutions and sustained by leaders acting rationally not only to achieve set goals but to thwart foolish inadvertencies. Looking at key legislative issues from the divided government under Reagan, through Clinton's Democratic government to complete unified Republican control under George W. Bush, the authors clearly and carefully analyze important crux points in lawmaking: the swing votes, the veto, the filibuster, and the rise of tough budget politics. They show that when it comes to government gridlock, it doesn't matter who's in the White House or who's in control of Congress; it's as American as apple pie, and its results may ultimately be as sweet in ensuring stability and democracy.

Revolving Gridlock

Revolving Gridlock PDF Author: David W. Brady
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429974345
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Get Book Here

Book Description
Despite the early prospects for bipartisan unity on terrorism initiatives, government gridlock continues on most major issues in the wake of the 2004 elections. In this fully revised edition, political scientists David W. Brady and Craig Volden demonstrate that gridlock is not a product of divided government, party politics, or any of the usual scapegoats. It is, instead, an instrumental part of American government?built into our institutions and sustained by leaders acting rationally not only to achieve set goals but to thwart foolish inadvertencies. Looking at key legislative issues from the divided government under Reagan, through Clinton's Democratic government to complete unified Republican control under George W. Bush, the authors clearly and carefully analyze important crux points in lawmaking: the swing votes, the veto, the filibuster, and the rise of tough budget politics. They show that when it comes to government gridlock, it doesn't matter who's in the White House or who's in control of Congress; it's as American as apple pie, and its results may ultimately be as sweet in ensuring stability and democracy.

Rivals for Power

Rivals for Power PDF Author: James A. Thurber
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742509917
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
The first President Bush faced a long-entrenched Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. In his first term, Clinton entered into a unified government for the first time in many years, but all that changed with the midterm elections of 1994. The second President Bush faces a closely divided government whose balance could shift at any time. Through it all, the presidential-congressional rivalry continues unabated. What is it about the institutional relationship between Congress and the presidency that ensures conflict even in the face of necessary cooperation? Here, well-known scholars and practitioners of congressional-presidential relations come together to explore both branches of government and what unites as well as divides them. Highlights include chapters on budgetary politics in a time of surplus, the impacts of campaign message and election mandates, and congressional-presidential relations during transitions. Case studies of budget battles, health care task forces, and armed conflicts in foreign lands lend concrete detail to political theory. First hand experience on the Hill and in the Oval Office and everywhere in between is reflected in each chapter. Although nothing can rival election 2000 for its challenges to both Congress and the presidency, Rivals For Power shows how even an extraordinary electoral result is subject to the rules and rigors of Washington's built-in rivalry."

The Collapse Of The Democratic Presidential Majority

The Collapse Of The Democratic Presidential Majority PDF Author: David G Lawrence
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042996529X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority makes sense of the last half century of American presidential elections as part of a transition from a world in which realignment was still possible to a dealigned political universe. The book combines analysis of presidential elections in the postwar world with theories of electoral changeshowing how Reagan bridged the eras of re- and dealignment and why Clinton was elected despite the postwar trend. American electoral politics since World War II stubbornly refuse to fit the theories of political scientists. The long collapse of the Democratic presidential majority does not look much like the classic realignments of the past: The Republicans made no corresponding gains in sub-presidential elections and never won the loyalty of a majority of the electorate in terms of party identification. And yet, the period shows a stability of Republican dominance quite at odds with the volatility and unpredictability central to the competing theory of dealignment. The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority makes sense of the last half century of American presidential elections as part of a transition from a world in which realignment was still possible to a dealigned political universe. The book combines analysis of presidential elections in the postwar world with theories of electoral changeshowing how Reagan bridged the eras of re- and dealignment and why Clinton was elected despite the postwar trend.

The Struggle to Limit Government

The Struggle to Limit Government PDF Author: John Samples
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1935308297
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
In 1980, Ronald Reagan said, “It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed. This book surveys the highlights and low points of the nearly 30-year struggle to limit American government, set against the big-government world of the New Deal and the Great Society.

The Dynamics Of American Politics

The Dynamics Of American Politics PDF Author: Lawrence C. Dodd
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429965222
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the major theoretical approaches to the study of American politics. Written by leading scholars in the field, the book's essays focus particularly on the contributions that competing macro- and microanalytic approaches make to our understanding of political change in America.The essays include systematic overviews of the patterns of constancy and change that characterize American political history as well as comparative discussions of theoretical traditions in the study of American political change. The volume concludes with four provocative essays proposing new and integrated interpretations of American politics.This is a path-breaking book that all scholars concerned with American politics will want to read and that all serious students of American politics will need to study. The Dynamics of American Politics is appropriate for graduate core seminars on American politics, undergraduate capstone courses on American politics, courses on political theory and approaches to political analysis, and rigorous lower-division courses on American politics.

Pivotal Politics

Pivotal Politics PDF Author: Keith Krehbiel
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226452735
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Politicians and pundits alike have complained that the divided governments of the last decades have led to legislative gridlock. Not so, argues Keith Krehbiel, who advances the provocative theory that divided government actually has little effect on legislative productivity. Gridlock is in fact the order of the day, occurring even when the same party controls the legislative and executive branches. Meticulously researched and anchored to real politics, Krehbiel argues that the pivotal vote on a piece of legislation is not the one that gives a bill a simple majority, but the vote that allows its supporters to override a possible presidential veto or to put a halt to a filibuster. This theory of pivots also explains why, when bills are passed, winning coalitions usually are bipartisan and supermajority sized. Offering an incisive account of when gridlock is overcome and showing that political parties are less important in legislative-executive politics than previously thought, Pivotal Politics remakes our understanding of American lawmaking.

Red and Blue Nation?

Red and Blue Nation? PDF Author: Pietro S. Nivola
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815760787
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A Brookings Institution Press and the Hoover Institution publication America's polarized politics are largely disconnected from mainstream public preferences. This disconnect poses fundamental dangers for the representativeness and accountability of government, as well as the already withering public trust in it. As the 2008 presidential race kicks into gear, the political climate certainly will not become less polarized. With important issues to address—including immigration policy, health care, and the funding of the Iraq war—it is critical that essential policies not be hostage to partisan political battles. Building upon the findings of the first volume of Red and Blue Nation? (Brookings, 2006), which explored the extent of political polarization and its potential causes, this new volume delves into the consequences of the gulf between "red states" and "blue states." The authors examine the impact of these political divisions on voter behavior, Congressional law-making, judicial selection, and foreign policy formation. They shed light on hotly debated institutional reform proposals—including changes to the electoral system and the congressional rules of engagement—and ultimately present research-supported policies and reforms for alleviating the underlying causes of political polarization. While most discussion of polarization takes place in separate spheres of journalism and academia, Red and Blue Nation? brings together a unique set of voices with a wide variety of perspectives to enrich our understanding of the issue. Written in a broad, accessible style, it is a resource for anyone interested in the future of electoral politics in America. Contributors include Marc Hetherington and John G. Geer (Vanderbilt University), Deborah Jordan Brooks (Dartmouth College), Martin P. Wattenberg (University of California, Irvine), Barbara Sinclair and Joel D. Aberbach (UCLA), Christopher H. Foreman (University of Maryland), Keith Krehbiel (Stanford University), Sarah A. Binder, Benjamin Wittes, Jonathan Rauch, and William A. Ga

The Clinton Riddle

The Clinton Riddle PDF Author: Todd G. Shields
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
ISBN: 9781557287809
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
In 2002 a distinguished interdisciplinary group of scholars gathered at the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society at the University of Arkansas to provide a critical evaluation of the Clinton-Gore administration. Their groundbreaking assessment of the most controversial president in modern times treats such crucial topics as race, women, and minorities; the character issue; foreign policy; and the media. This book provides a unique vantage point on the "Clinton riddle” that all future studies will need to consider.

Class And Party In American Politics

Class And Party In American Politics PDF Author: Jeff Stonecash
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780367315054
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
This single volume work examines whether class political divisions have increased or decreased over time in America. Most studies have concluded that class differences have declined, and that Democrats have alienated their electoral base--the working class. However, counter to these scholarly and pundit mainstream, in Class and Party in American Po

Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy

Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy PDF Author: David M.Konisky
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1788972848
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
A comprehensive analysis of diverse areas of scholarly research on U.S. environmental policy and politics, this Handbook looks at the key ideas, theoretical frameworks, empirical findings and methodological approaches to the topic. Leading environmental policy scholars emphasize areas of emerging research and opportunities for future enquiry.