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 American Political Parties written by Jeffrey E Cohen and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Powerful cross-currents of both decline and resurgence have been affecting American political parties over the past several decades. Is the era of decline that began in the late 1960s over and are the parties in a new era of rebuilding? In what direction are the parties headed and what does it mean for a healthy and well-functioning democracy? American Political Parties brings together a distinguished team of contributors to explore these questions. Students are exposed to original, "state-of-the-art" research on the parties that is written to be accessible and engaging. Presenting both historical and contemporary material on the changing U.S. parties, the book offers a balanced portrait and a wide variety of views concerning the continuing weaknesses of the parties and their concurrent signs of revitalization. Essays examine three important elements of parties—the parties in the mass public, the parties as electoral and political organizations, and the parties as governing groups. Two themes recur throughout—the first deals with party change (specifically realignment and dealignment) and the second with party responsibility in a democratic government. The concluding chapter places the contibutors' various findings and viewpoints in perspective. It offers several theories to help explain why the parties seem to be following their dual paths of development and considers the implications of this state of affairs for the future of American democracy.

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 513 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 Congress and U S Foreign Policy written by Ralph G. Carter and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-06-03 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading scholars in the study of congress and US foreign policy address congress’s vital role in determining how and why the US chooses it's international policy agendas. They address key aspects of congressional activism, assertiveness, and acquiescence in an era of divided government and polarized politics.

Download or read book Dynamics of the Party System written by James L. Sundquist and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the original edition of Dynamics of the Party System was published in 1973, American politics have continued on a tumultuous course. In the vacuum left by the decline of the Democratic and Republican parties, single-interest groups have risen and flourished. Protest movements on the left and the New Right at the opposite pole have challenged and divided the major parties, and the Reagan Revolution--in reversing a fifty-year trend toward governmental expansion--may turn out to have revolutionized the party system too. In this edition, as in the first, current political trends and events are placed in a historical and theoretical context. Focusing upon three major realignments of the past--those of the 1850s, the 1890s, and the 1930s--Sundquist traces the processes by which basic transformations of the country's two-party system occur. From the historical case studies, he fashions a theory as to the why and how of party realignment, then applies it to current and recent developments, through the first two years of the Reagan presidency and the midterm election of 1982. The theoretical sections of the first edition are refined in this one, the historical sections are revised to take account of recent scholarship, and the chapters dealing with the postwar period are almost wholly rewritten. The conclusion of the original work is, in general, confirmed: the existing party system is likely to be strengthened as public attention is again riveted on domestic economic issues, and the headlong trend of recent decades toward political independence and party disintegration reversed, at least for a time.

Download or read book Altered States written by Andrew P. Cortell and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging dominant assumptions in international relations, Altered States demonstrates that national political institutions change more frequently--and less dramatically--than is commonly thought and with important consequences for the political landscape. Combining theory with solid empirical research--including archival evidence and interviews--the contributors explore the causes and consequences of institutional transformation in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Republics, and Cuba. Altered States highlights the dynamic and interactive relationship between national political institutions and reform-minded policy entrepreneurs, a perspective that will interest scholars and policy makers alike.

Download or read book Why Parties written by John H. Aldrich and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-07-24 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its first appearance fifteen years ago, Why Parties? has become essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the nature of American political parties. In the interim, the party system has undergone some radical changes. In this landmark book, now rewritten for the new millennium, John H. Aldrich goes beyond the clamor of arguments over whether American political parties are in resurgence or decline and undertakes a wholesale reexamination of the foundations of the American party system. Surveying critical episodes in the development of American political parties—from their formation in the 1790s to the Civil War—Aldrich shows how they serve to combat three fundamental problems of democracy: how to regulate the number of people seeking public office, how to mobilize voters, and how to achieve and maintain the majorities needed to accomplish goals once in office. Aldrich brings this innovative account up to the present by looking at the profound changes in the character of political parties since World War II, especially in light of ongoing contemporary transformations, including the rise of the Republican Party in the South, and what those changes accomplish, such as the Obama Health Care plan. Finally, Why Parties? A Second Look offers a fuller consideration of party systems in general, especially the two-party system in the United States, and explains why this system is necessary for effective democracy.

Download or read book Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House written by David W. Rohde and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1991-08-13 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the Second World War, congressional parties have been characterized as declining in strength and influence. Research has generally attributed this decline to policy conflicts within parties, to growing electoral independence of members, and to the impact of the congressional reforms of the 1970s. Yet the 1980s witnessed a strong resurgence of parties and party leadership—especially in the House of Representatives. Offering a concise and compelling explanation of the causes of this resurgence, David W. Rohde argues that a realignment of electoral forces led to a reduction of sectional divisions within the parties—particularly between the northern and southern Democrats—and to increased divergence between the parties on many important issues. He challenges previous findings by asserting that congressional reform contributed to, rather than restrained, the increase of partisanship. Among the Democrats, reforms siphoned power away from conservative and autocratic committee chairs and put control of those committees in the hands of Democratic committee caucuses, strengthening party leaders and making both party and committee leaders responsible to rank-and-file Democrats. Electoral changes increased the homogeneity of House Democrats while institutional reforms reduced the influence of dissident members on a consensus in the majority party. Rohde's accessible analysis provides a detailed discussion of the goals of the congressional reformers, the increased consensus among Democrats and its reinforcement by their caucus, the Democratic leadership's use of expanded powers to shape the legislative agenda, and the responses of House Republicans. He also addresses the changes in the relationship between the House majority and the president during the Carter and Reagan administrations and analyzes the legislative consequences of the partisan resurgence. A readable, systematic synthesis of the many complex factors that fueled the recent resurgence of partisanship, Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House is ideal for course use.

Download or read book Governing America written by Julian E. Zelizer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-04 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the study of American political history.

Download or read book Inside Congress written by Trevor Corning and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2017-07-25 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Required reading for anyone who wants to understand how to work within Congress. The House and Senate have unique rules and procedures to determine how legislation moves from a policy idea to law. Evolved over the last 200 years, the rules of both chambers are designed to act as the engine for that process. Each legislative body has its own leadership positions to oversee this legislative process. To the novice, whether a newly elected representative, a lawmaker's staff on her first day at work, or a constituent visiting Washington, the entire process can seem incomprehensible. What is an open rule for a House Appropriations bill and how does it affect consideration? Why are unanimous consent agreements needed in the Senate? The authors of Inside Congress, all congressional veterans, have written the definitive guide to how Congress really works. It is the accessible and necessary resource to understanding and interpreting procedural tools, arcane precedents, and the role of party politics in the making of legislation in Congress.

Download or read book A Social Theory of Congress written by Brian Alexander and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-04-09 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the role that norms play in the U.S. Congress? At a time of unprecedented partisanship and high-profile breaches of legislative norms in the modern Congress, the relationship between norms and the functioning of the institution is a growing and pressing concern. Despite the importance of the topic, recent scholarship has not focused on congressional norms. Meanwhile, previous research leaves open many relevant questions about the role of norms in the Congress of the twenty-first century. A Social Theory of Congress brings norms back in to the study of Congress by defining what are legislative norms, identifying which norms currently exist in the U.S. Congress, and examining the effects that congressional norms have. This book provides a new research approach to study congressional norms through a comprehensive review of previous scholarship and a combination of interviews, survey research, and analysis of member behavior. What’s more, an innovative theoretical framework — a social theory of Congress — provides new perspectives in the study of legislatures and political behavior. The findings are striking. Norms of cooperation are surprisingly alive and well in an otherwise partisan Congress. But norms of conflict are on the rise. In addition, norms of a changing culture are affecting how members understand their role as lawmakers and in their interactions among one another. Together, these findings suggest that norms play an important role in the functioning of the legislature and as norms evolve so too does the performance of Congress in American democracy.

Download or read book Conservative Reformers The Freshman Republicans in the 104th Congress written by Nicol C. Rae and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicol Rae's engaging account of the Republican revolutionaries' freshman year in Congress persuasively demonstrates that the precepts set forth by Madison in Federalist 10 and 51 are still in force in our remarkably stable political system. The 73 Republican freshmen who entered the House of Representatives after the 1994 election were a well-organized group with majority status and a commitment to change. This book examines the extent to which they were successful in redirecting policy and reforming the institutions of representative government -- and the extent to which those same institutions moderated, and even frustrated, efforts to introduce radical, rapid -- indeed revolutionary -- change. Contrasts are drawn both with the role of the Republican freshmen in the Senate and with the power of the President as manifested in the 1995-96 budget battle. The book is based on interviews conducted by the author when he was an APSA Congressional Fellow in the offices of Rep. George P. Radanovich, president of the freshman Republican class, and Sen. Thad Cochran, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

Download or read book Controlling the Bureaucracy written by William F. West and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-17 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Controls on the bureaucracy through administrative due process and presidential and congressional prerogatives are the focus of this book. The author examines these controls and assesses the trade-offs among them.

Download or read book Laws Men and Machines Routledge Revivals written by Michael Foley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1990, Laws, Men and Machines is an original interpretation of the lasting influence that Newtonian mechanics has had on the design and operation of the American political system. The author argues that it is this mechanistic tradition that now instinctively shapes the way we conceive of, analyse, and evaluate American politics, and that the Newtonian conception of the world still finds expression in the 'checks and balances' of the American system.

Download or read book A Chill in the House written by Lewis G. Irwin and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the growth of obstacles to legislative success since the 1960s in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Download or read book Permanent State of Emergency written by Ryan Alford and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2017-06-01 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States launched initiatives that test the limits of international human rights law. The indefinite detention and torture of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, targeted killing, and mass surveillance require an expansion of executive authority that negates the rule of law. In Permanent State of Emergency, Ryan Alford establishes that the ongoing failure to address human rights abuses is a symptom of the most serious constitutional crisis in American history. Instead of curbing the increase in executive power, Congress and the courts facilitated the breakdown of the nation’s constitutional order and set the stage for presidential supremacy. The presidency, Alford argues, is now more than imperial: it is an elective dictatorship. Providing both an overview and a systematic analysis of the new regime, he objectively demonstrates that it does not meet even the minimum requirements of the rule of law. At this critical juncture in American democracy, Permanent State of Emergency alerts the public to the structural transformation of the state and reiterates the importance of the constitutional limits of the American presidency.

Download or read book Congress and the Presidency written by Michael Foley and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: . The authors emphasise the dynamism of America's foremost political institutions within a democratic system. They examine recent developments in relation to the wider context of United States politics and reassert the importance of institutions in understanding this unique political system.