From the end of the New Deal until quite recently, the U.S. House of Representatives was dominated by a conservative coalition that thwarted the Democratic majority and prevented the enactment of measures proposed by a succession of liberal Presidents. Today Presidents aren't necessarily liberal and the House of Representatives is not necessarily the graveyard of presidential proposals. What happened? Congress evolved. It all began with airconditioning. In this entertaining tale of one of our most august institutions, Nelson Polsby describes how the Democratic majority finally succeeded in overcoming the conservative coalition, changing the House. The evolution required among other things, the disappearance of Dixiecrats from the House Democratic caucus. Dixiecrats were replaced by the rise of the Republican party in the south. The Republican party in southern states was strengthened by an influx of migrants from the north, who came south to settle after the introduction of residential air conditioning, which made the climate more tolerable to Northerners. This evolutionary process led to the House's liberalization and concluded with the House's later transformation into an arena of sharp partisanship, visible among both Democrats and Republicans. A fascinating read by one of our most influential political scientists, How Congress Evolves breathes new life into the dusty corners of institutional history, and offers a unique explanation for important transformations in the congressional environment.
Using data and examples from the 2008 election, and laced with previews of 2012, this text offers an overview of the presidential election process from the earliest straw polls and fundraisers to final voter turnout and exit interviews. The coverage includes campaign strategy, the sequence of electoral events, and the issues, all from the perspective of the various actors in the election process voters, interest groups, political parties, the media, and the candidates themselves.
Polsby and Wildavsky’s classic text, now updated by Stephen Schier and David Hopkins, argues that the institutional rules of the presidential nomination and election processes, in combination with the behavior of the mass electorate, structure the strategic choices faced by politicians in powerful and foreseeable ways. We can make sense of the decisions made by different political actors—incumbents, challengers, Democrats, Republicans, consultants, party officials, activists, delegates, journalists, and voters—by understanding the ways in which their world is organized by incentives, regulations, events, resources, customs, and opportunities. Thoroughly revised and updated, this Sixteenth Edition provides everything students need to know about presidential elections going into the 2024 cycle.
Brimming with data and examples from the heated 2004 election, and laced with previews of 2008, the twelfth edition of this classic text offers a complete overview of the presidential election process from the earliest straw polls and fundraisers to final voter turnout and exit interviews. The comprehensive coverage includes campaign strategy, the sequence of electoral events, and the issues, all from the perspective of the various actors in the election process voters, interest groups, political parties, the media, and the candidates themselves.
The "Federalist Papers" were written in 1787 by three of America's founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. In this book, three constitutional experts address the threats posed by current challenges to the American constitution.
In his recognition of the importance of ideas and institutions in politics, in his limited use of the jargon of political analysis, and in his evident wit and ready humor, Nelson Polsby is himself being innovative in this study of the policy process. Political Innovation In America is a welcome addition to the public policy literature. -William F. Connelly, Jr., Benchmark This book will have a significant impact in restoring the links between politics and public policy. It's safe to say that our understanding of both of these subjects will never be the same again.-Francis E. Rourke, The Johns Hopkins University
New Federalist Papers brings together three prominent and highly visible constitutional experts - Alan Brinkley, Nelson W. Polsby, and Kathleen M. Sullivan - to address the threats posed by current challenges to the American Constitution and defend the representative democracy put in place by its framers. Like Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, the authors of New Federalist Papers see danger in the effort to diminish and relocate federal power at the same time that they recognize the importance of the market, of state and local governments, and of the many other institutions on which a healthy society depends. They aim to stimulate debate at a time when there is much at stake, recognizing that it is the task of public discourse to bring about a reasoned consideration of such issues as gun control, term limits, flag burning, the balanced-budget amendment, campaign finance reform, and the attempt to require a "supermajority" in Congress for the passage of controversial legislation.
This book examines the lawmaking bodies of the United states and the Germany and their constitutional duties and limitations. It is a first ever joint US-German parliamentary study that compares and contrasts two of the democratic West's most powerful legislatures.
Although he doesn't spell it out explicitly, the intention of editor Polsby (U. of California at Berkeley) in putting together this collection of 17 papers seems to have been to present an example of the variety of topics treated and methodologies employed in American political science. This edition of the Annual Review takes up such topics as an a
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