Download or read book Congress Resurgent written by Randall B. Ripley and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of Congress's role in shaping American foreign policy

Download or read book The Decline and Resurgence of Congress written by James L. Sundquist and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2002-09-13 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Solid ground for optimism as well as cause for foreboding." So James L. Sundquist views the outcome of the struggle by the Congress in the 1970s to recapture powers and responsibilities that in preceding decades it had surrendered to a burgeoning presidency. The resurgence of the Congress began in 1973, in its historic constitutional clash with President Nixon. For half a century before that time, the Congress had acquiesced in its own decline vis-à-vis the presidency, or had even initiated it, by building the presidential office as the center of leadership and coordination in the U.S. government and organizing itself not to initiate and lead but to react and follow. But the angry confrontation with President Nixon in the winter of 1972-73 galvanized the Congress to seek to regain what it considered its proper place in the constitutional scheme. Within a short period, it had created a new congressional budget process, prohibited impoundment of appropriated funds, enacted the War Powers Resolution, intensified oversight of the executive, extended the legislative veto over a wide range of executive actions, and vastly expanded its staff resources. The Decline and Resurgence of Congress, after reviewing relations between president and Congress over two centuries, traces the long series of congressional decisions that created the modern presidency and relates these to certain weaknesses that the Congress recognized in itself. It then recounts the events that marked the years of resurgence and evaluates the results. Finally, it analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the new Congress and appraises its potential for leadership and coordination.

Download or read book Resurgent written by Ken Blackwell and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-05-31 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AMERICA , THIS IS YOU R ROAD MAP TO THE FUTURE—A RETURN TO THE GUIDIN G PRINCI PLES OF OU R FOUNDIN G FATHERS . . . The United States is at a crossroads. Our national debt is rising, our social programs are unsustainable, and our government is expanding at an alarming rate. As American citizens, we have a choice. We can continue on our current path of policies that threaten our freedoms, our families, and our finances—or we can join the powerful new resurgence of the age-old principles that are the foundation of the U.S. Constitution. This book is a wake-up call. Written by acclaimed conservative leaders Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski, it is a back-to-basics action plan inspired by the original words and beliefs of our nation’s forefathers. Using the U.S. Constitution, the authors guide us through our current political minefield, showing how both Democrats and Republicans have led our country astray. They reveal startling connections between the crash of the economy, the collapse of the family, and the rise of big government. They lay out a policy agenda of constitutional fixes for our greatest national problems, from retirement, to education, to social issues, to taxes. Finally, they offer Republicans a step-by-step plan for rebuilding the GOP from the ground up, for winning both Congress and the White House, and for changing directions on the road to our future. The time is now, America. The resurgence is under way; we should let nothing stop us. More than two centuries ago, our forefathers gave us the dream and the directions—spelled out in black and white. Now more than ever, we need to embrace those principles and get our country back on track.

Download or read book The Machine written by Lee Fang and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before Obama took the oath of office after his historic victory, lobbyists, political hacks, oil tycoons and right-wing politicians had planned his political demise. The massive conservative infrastructure created by business groups beginning in the 1970s would not be sufficient, they concluded: in the age of Obama, something new had to be done. Written by the blogger who was the first to report on the lobbyists who staged the Tea Parties, here is a groundbreaking expose of the plans to make America conservative again.

Download or read book An Introduction to the U S Congress written by Charles B. Cushman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-18 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does Congress do? How does it do it? Why is it such a complicated institution? This concise primer offers students and general readers a brief and systematic introduction to Congress and the role it plays in the US political system. Drawing on his experience as a former Congressional staff member, the author explores the different political natures of the House and Senate, examines Congress's interaction with other branches of the Federal government, and looks ahead to the domestic and foreign challenges that are likely to drive the Congressional agenda for decades to come. The book provides revealing insights into the sometimes-contradictory Congressional responsibilities of representation and lawmaking; oversight and appropriation; and managing and organizing the government. It includes a case study (on the formation of the Department of Homeland Security) that sheds light on Congress's often-complicated procedures. The book also includes boxed features on Congressional action - highlighting such topics as file sharing and student loans - that show students how Congress's work affects their lives. Chapter-ending lists of web resources add to the book's usefulness.

Download or read book Congress and Civil Military Relations written by Colton C. Campbell and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the president is the commander-in-chief, Congress plays a very significant and underappreciated role in US civil-military relations, the relationship between the armed forces and the civilian leadership that commands it. Indeed, we cannot understand civil-military relations in the United States without an appreciation of Congress. The ebbs and flows in US civil-military relations depend in part on congressional use of four main tools available to provide direction to the military. These include the selection of military officers, determining how much authority is delegated to the military, oversight of the military, and establishing incentives for appropriate military behavior. Congress sets the military's budget, influences military policy by calling officers to testify, sets or changes personnel policy, and approves or rejects a host of initiatives from officer promotion to base closures. This unique book will help readers better understand the role of Congress in military affairs and national and international security policy.

Download or read book Congress and the Cold War written by Robert David Johnson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-11-21 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first historical interpretation of the congressional response to the entire Cold War. Using a wide variety of sources, including several manuscript collections opened specifically for this study, the book challenges the popular and scholarly image of a weak Cold War Congress, in which the unbalanced relationship between the legislative and executive branches culminated in the escalation of the US commitment in Vietnam, which in turn paved the way for a congressional resurgence best symbolized by the passage of the War Powers Act in 1973. Instead, understanding the congressional response to the Cold War requires a more flexible conception of the congressional role in foreign policy, focused on three facets of legislative power: the use of spending measures; the internal workings of a Congress increasingly dominated by subcommittees; and the ability of individual legislators to affect foreign affairs by changing the way that policymakers and the public considered international questions.

Download or read book The Making of US Foreign Policy written by John Dumbrell and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully revised and updated, this new edition analyses the relationship between the process and substance of US foreign policy since the mid 1960s.

Download or read book All politics is local congressional decision making in foreign policy written by Karl Lemberg and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2005-10-25 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Region: USA, grade: 1,0, University of Potsdam, course: Public policy and institutions, language: English, abstract: The dominant player in international politics is unmistakably the United States of America. U.S. economic, military and cultural superiority is shaping world politics and setting the stage for the next generation. U.S. foreign policy features the image of the United States President and to a lesser extent that of the Secretary of State and Defense. They are the predominant figures that drive U.S. foreign policy on the international stage. The system of checks and balances neatly involves two branches of government – executive and legislative – in a construct of interdependence. Congress is the government branch of ‘the people’. The two-year term cycles for House Representatives and the large number of districts make Congress the most ‘representative’ institution in the U.S. government. In contemporary political science the state of being represented is described by ‘Principle-Agent-Relationship’, in which the representative – the agent – closely represents his constituency – the principle. "It doesn′t pay off for my constituency" said Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) when asked, why she wanted to get off of the House International Relations Committee (HIRC). This incident was my first impression of foreign policy in the U.S. Congress. Having heard that, I went to a HIRC oversight hearing to see how they conduct their business. What struck me most was the fact that the members devoted approx. half of their speaking time of total five minutes to the actual issue at stake and the other half to an issue that was absolutely irrelevant to the pending business. As I found out later, the irrelevant issues were important for the individual member to have been mentioned to the panel and C-SPAN. The subsequent past months I spent on ‘the Hill’, observing congressional (foreign) policy- and decision-making, with three leading questions bearing in mind: 1. Is the U.S. Congress important for U.S. foreign policy? 2. What factors influence decision making in foreign policy? 3. Does constituency play a role in the making and shaping of foreign policy?

Download or read book Right Wing Resurgence written by Daryl Johnson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2012 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2008 there were 149 militia groups in the United States. In 2009, that number more than tripled to 512, and now there are nearly 600. In Right-Wing Resurgence, author Daryl Johnson offers a detailed account of the growth of right-wing extremism and militias in the United States and the ever-increasing threat they pose. The author is an acknowledged expert in this area and has been an intelligence analyst working for several federal agencies for nearly 20 years. The book is also a first-hand, insider's account of the DHS Right-Wing Extremism report from the person who wrote it. It is a truthful depiction of the facts, circumstances, and events leading up to the leak of this official intelligence assessment. The leak and its aftermath have had an adverse effect on homeland security. Because of its alleged mishandling of the situation, the Department's reputation has declined in the intelligence and law enforcement communities and the analytical integrity of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis was undermined. Most importantly, the nation's security has been compromised during a critical time when a significant domestic terrorist threat is growing. This book is replete with case studies and interviews with leaders which reveal their agendas, how they recruit, and how they operate around the country. It presents a comprehensive account of an ever-growing security concern at a time when this threat is only beginning to be realized, and is still largely ignored in many circles.

Download or read book More Than a Feeling written by Adam J. Ramey and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whatever you think about the widening divide between Democrats and Republicans, ideological differences do not explain why politicians from the same parties, who share the same goals and policy preferences, often argue fiercely about how best to attain them. This perplexing misalignment suggests that we are missing an important piece of the puzzle. Political scientists have increasingly drawn on the relationship between voters’ personalities and political orientation, but there has been little empirically grounded research looking at how legislators’ personalities influence their performance on Capitol Hill. With More Than a Feeling, Adam J. Ramey, Jonathan D. Klingler, and Gary E. Hollibaugh, Jr. have developed an innovative framework incorporating what are known as the Big Five dimensions of personality—openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—to improve our understanding of political behavior among members of Congress. To determine how strongly individuals display these traits, the authors identified correlates across a wealth of data, including speeches, campaign contributions and expenditures, committee involvement, willingness to filibuster, and even Twitter feeds. They then show how we might expect to see the influence of these traits across all aspects of Congress members’ political behavior—from the type and quantity of legislation they sponsor and their style of communication to whether they decide to run again or seek a higher office. They also argue convincingly that the types of personalities that have come to dominate Capitol Hill in recent years may be contributing to a lot of the gridlock and frustration plaguing the American political system.

Download or read book After the End written by James M. Scott and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1999-01-21 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the political landscape emerging from the end of the Cold War, making U.S. foreign policy has become more difficult, due in part to less clarity and consensus about threats and interests. In After the End James M. Scott brings together a group of scholars to explore the changing international situation since 1991 and to examine the characteristics and patterns of policy making that are emerging in response to a post–Cold War world. These essays examine the recent efforts of U.S. policymakers to recast the roles, interests, and purposes of the United States both at home and abroad in a political environment where policy making has become increasingly decentralized and democratized. The contributors suggest that foreign policy leadership has shifted from White House and executive branch dominance to an expanded group of actors that includes the president, Congress, the foreign policy bureaucracy, interest groups, the media, and the public. The volume includes case studies that focus on China, Russia, Bosnia, Somalia, democracy promotion, foreign aid, and NAFTA. Together, these chapters describe how policy making after 1991 compares to that of other periods and suggest how foreign policy will develop in the future. This collection provides a broad, balanced evaluation of U.S. foreign policy making in the post–Cold War setting for scholars, teachers, and students of U.S. foreign policy, political science, history, and international studies. Contributors. Ralph G. Carter, Richard Clark, A. Lane Crothers, I. M. Destler, Ole R. Holsti, Steven W. Hook, Christopher M. Jones, James M. McCormick, Jerel Rosati, Jeremy Rosner, John T. Rourke, Renee G. Scherlen, Peter J. Schraeder, James M. Scott, Jennifer Sterling-Folker, Rick Travis, Stephen Twing

Download or read book US Policy Towards Cuba written by Jessica Gibbs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-12-14 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: US Policy Towards Cuba is a comprehensive examination of U.S. policy towards Cuba after the Cold War, from 1989-2008. It discusses the competition between Congress and the executive for control of policy, and the domestic interests which shaped policymaking and led to the passage of two major pieces of legislation (the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996, better known as the Helms-Burton Act) which tightened the embargo on Cuba and were fiercely resisted by U.S. allies. There is also a strong focus on migration as an issue in U.S.-Cuban relations. The book then moves on to examine U.S. policy during the second Clinton administration, when the interest group environment altered for two principal reasons. Firstly the case of the small Cuban rafter boy, Elian Gonzalez, attracted huge media coverage and led to public questioning of the wisdom of current policy, and secondly the agricultural lobby, keen to export to Cuba, lobbied for the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act, which finally passed in 2000. The final section of the book analyses democracy promotion efforts under President George W. Bush. Seeking to cast light upon the US policymaking process, Gibbs demonstrates that U.S. Cuba policy represents a rather extreme example of the influence of domestic politics on policymaking, and provides a significant contribution to this important and under-researched aspect of U.S. foreign policy.

Download or read book Congressional Policymaking in Sino U S Relations during the Post Cold War Era written by Joseph A Gagliano and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional wisdom holds that the President enjoys the preponderance of foreign policy power, however Congress has influenced China policymaking more than is generally recognized. The legislature has demonstrated consistent interests in the realm of China policy, and it has invariably pursued those interests through law-making. During the post-Cold War period in particular, the Sino-U.S. relationship has evolved in a radically changing international environment, marked by a power transition inherent in China's rise. The development of official relations between Washington and Beijing during the Cold War occurred in the shadow of an assertive Soviet power, when the United States and China were able to find common geopolitical ground in opposing Soviet expansion while overlooking longstanding political disagreements. The dissolution of the Soviet empire, however, put the United States and China on a new geostrategic footing. Political disagreements were no longer exempted in light of a counter-Soviet strategy, and the reduction in concern for the Soviet threat allowed policymakers in Washington to more aggressively pursue trade interests that conflicted with those of China. Given this international context, this book aims to discern how Congress reconciled competing Sino-U.S. interests in a post-Cold War era, when external threats no longer dictated an apparent hierarchy that favored China over the Soviet Union. This work will be of interest to students and scholars of US foreign policy, China Studies and international relations in general.

Download or read book The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark written by Donald Senior and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The passion is the climactic event in each of the gospels. This volume elucidates the passion in its historical background and explores its theological breadth and depth. With scholarly finesse and pastoral awareness, the author sets the vibrant message of the passion speaking to our lives and times.

Download or read book Guide to Congress written by CQ Press, and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2012-08-10 with total page 1865 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new edition of this comprehensive, two-volume reference has been thoroughly revised and expanded by expert CQ Press writers—with years of experience covering Congress—to offer a complete institutional history of Congress along with updated insight and analysis on the 2008 and 2010 shifts in power of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The 35 chapters of Guide to Congress, Seventh Edition, are divided into eight subject areas that cover all aspects of the U.S. Congress: Origins and Development of Congress, from the constitutional beginnings of the legislative branch to the histories of the House and Senate and their power shifts, eras of partisanship and unity, influential leaders, and working relationships with presidents. New coverage includes analysis of the tug-of-war between House Democrats and the George W. Bush administration on Iraq war withdrawal timetables, updates on criminal investigations of House members including William J. Jefferson of Louisiana and Charles Rangel of New York, and analysis of the Tea Party Movement and new Republican majority. Powers of Congress, including powers to tax, spend, and borrow; to conduct foreign policy and investigations; to confirm and impeach; to regulate commerce; to amend the Constitution; and to select the president. Updated material includes analysis of the George W. Bush administration’s use of immunity from questioning by congressional committees, analysis of the signing of the new START treaty with Russia—marking a cornerstone of U.S. relations with the country, coverage of the War on Terror—including the killing of bin Laden in a U.S. raid in Pakistan, and perspective on the negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling in 2011. Congressional Procedures, detailing the party and leadership structures; rules and the legislative process; the committee system, assignment, and procedures; and congressional staff. Revised coverage profiles the methods, styles, and legislative successes and defeats of House Speakers Pelosi and Boehner and Senate majority leader Reid. The Guide also analyzes the new hpyerpartisanship emerging in Congress and provides updates on congressional travel reforms and aide statistics and trends. Pressures on Congress, including influence from constituents, political parties, the president, the Supreme Court, lobbyists, and the media. New material explores the use of social media to communicate with constituents, examines the role of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and analyzes the Obama administration’s relationship with Congress. Housing and Support, covering the U.S. Capitol, House and Senate office buildings, the Library of Congress, and organizations such as the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service. Updates are provided on new initiatives by the Library of Congress and reforms to the General Accounting Office. Pay and Perquisites, including honoraria and allowances, franking and travel privileges, and other benefits. Updates include revised figures for congressional pay and benefits and analysis of efforts to control privately sponsored foreign travel. Congress and the Electorate, covering the right to vote, the demographic composition of congress, the role of parties in elections, campaign financing, and redistricting. New information discusses elections statistics in recent elections, the impact of third parties, Tea Party gains, and the creation of "super PACs" and 527 groups. Qualifications and conduct, detailing congressional ethics investigations and procedures for disciplining members. Updated coverage reviews ethics investigations, including the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics. Specific investigations and outcomes are discussed, including the censure of Charles Rangel and disapproval of Joe Wilson’s outburst during a speech by President Obama. Volume 2 concludes with a selected bibliography and key reference materials: a list of all members of congress who have served since 1789; congressional election results; floor leaders and committee chairs; dates for sessions of congress; women, black, Asian, and Hispanic members; and many more. Boxed features, tables, and figures and a generous number of photos enhance the topical coverage of this definitive resource on Congress.

Download or read book Competing Principals written by Forrest Maltzman and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book discusses the role of congressional committees in the legislative process