Power to the People examines the first session of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, in 1937, to determine whether the Legislature's structure and rules reflected populism, progressivism, or simply a variant of liberal democracy. Building on the work of the new institutionalism and applying the principles of social choice, Power to the People argues that the structure and procedures of an institution affect its product as well as the philosophies on which it is founded.
Power to the People examines the first session of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, in 1937, to determine whether the Legislature's structure and r...
When Nebraskans voted to trade in their bicameral, partisan legislature for a one-house, nonpartisan body in 1934, it was a revolutionary decision. George Norris, a U.S. senator from Nebraska, argued that the new institution would be more open, efficient, responsible, and responsive to the people it was meant to serve. An ardent progressive, Norris convinced his fellow Nebraskans that a nonpartisan, unicameral legislature would take power from the elites and return it to the people. One House examines the forces at work behind the unicameral s creation and chronicles the lawmakers...
When Nebraskans voted to trade in their bicameral, partisan legislature for a one-house, nonpartisan body in 1934, it was a revolutionary decision....
