Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> American Government - National

"The Historian's Wizard of Oz" synthesizes four decades of scholarly interpretations of L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel as an allegory of the Gilded Age political economy and a comment on the gold standard. The heart of the book is an annotated version of "The Wizard of Oz" that highlights the possible political and monetary symbolism in the book by relating characters, settings, and incidents in it to the historical events and figures of the 1890s, the decade in which Baum wrote his story. Dighe simultaneously values the leading political interpretations of "Oz" as useful and...

As the 2000 presidential election suggests, the particular type of voting system employed in a given venue can impact the outcome of elections, not only within an individual state, but, as Fyfe and Miller explore, across the states as well. Yet the scholarly community has paid little attention to the nature and impact of voting systems on electoral outcomes to date.

Using Elazar's model of political culture in the American states as a logistical framework on which to build analysis of these voting systems, they indicate that culture is a fundamental variable to consider when attempting...

While the 2000 presidential election had a number of unique features, including the decisive role of the Supreme Court, it actually was quite similar to three earlier television-age campaigns. For the fourth time since 1960, an incumbent president retired and his party nominated the vice president as a potential successor. The nomination of the vice president has become so commonplace that we now expect it. Unfortunately, we lack theoretical explanations of why vice presidents win nominations while often losing the general election. Dover seeks to advance this needed theory.

Dover looks...

Members come and go, reforms are attempted and abandoned, but congressional norms of seniority, specialization, and reciprocity adapt, survive, and continue to influence the course of American government. In the first major look at congressional normative behavior in 25 years, Choate argues these resilient folkways survive because members value the institutional stability and continuity they provide. Working from extensive on-the-record interviews with past and present House members, Choate's work is the first to study the unsettling effects on norms brought on by party switching.

This book examines the underlying causes of the tumult of the 1920s in America that has since captivated writers, readers, moviegoers, and television viewers. During the 1920s, Americans were aware of the momentous changes taking place in their lives. It was an introspective decade. Magazines and newspaper articles, books and anthologies explored the causes, nature, and implications of those changes. The impact of radio, and to a lesser extent motion pictures, rivaled the effects that the invention of printing had had on human society hundreds of years earlier. Add to these developments...

Members of Congress often delegate power to bureaucratic experts, but they fear losing permanent control of the policy. One way Congress has dealt with this problem is to require reauthorization of the program or policy. Cox argues that Congress uses this power selectively, and is more likely to require reauthorization when policy is complex or they do not trust the executive branch. By contrast, reauthorization is less likely to be required when there are large disagreements about policy within Congress. In the process, Cox shows that committees are important independent actors in the...

An ethics climate of suspicion and concern about conflicts of interest exists in U.S. politics, resulting in efforts to improve ethical conduct for Congress and an infrastructure to enforce them. Herrick examines various effects of the climate and ethics standards on the House of Representatives. The reforms had a positive effect on members' behavior with few costs. The ethics rules addressed behaviors that potentially harm the legislative process and House members altered their behavior to comply with the rules. Members who violate the standards were less likely to leave Congress,...

The words Indian fighter recall Custer. Indian fighter politician brings to mind Andrew Jackson or William Henry Harrison. Yet politicians who rose to prominence by exploiting their participation in bloody campaigns against Native America were much more common than most Americans realize. This book will bring to light important facts and highlight controversial issues regarding well-known figures from American history and folklore, while situating the questionable actions of these politicians within their historical and political times.

While most people know that Davy Crockett went to...

The impact of religion on the 2004 presidential election results provoked widespread consternation and surprise. In fact, religion and faith have played a vital role in American elections for some time, and here, Green explores the links and how they have changed over time.Green posits that an old religion gap describing longstanding political differences among religious communities has been supplanted by a new religion gap revealing political divisions based on religious behavior and belief. He puts the differences into context and documents the changing role of religion in politics over...

This book brings together in one place the liberal and conservative arguments that face the Republican and Democratic parties in the run-up to the 2008 election. In each chapter, David Coates lays out the popular conservative case and then presents a point-by-point liberal response. Each chapter challenges right-wing ways of framing the issue and pulls discussion back into the civilized center of American politics. The sources and evidence sustaining both conservative and liberal arguments are listed in endnotes and developed more fully on an associated blog site.

A Liberal...

Unionism in the United States was quite successful during and after World War II, especially during the golden years of American capitalism (1947-73) as workers' wages increased quite dramatically in a number of industries. For example, average hourly earnings for workers in meatpacking rose 114% between 1950 and 1965, those in steel 102%, in rubber tires by 96%, and in manufacturing 81%. At the same time as union members' wages were increasing, union membership was declining. Yet, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) argued that organizing new...

Understanding NAFTA was first published in 1993 as Continental Shift: Free Trade & the New North America. This edition includes a new introduction that brings the NAFTA story up through 1995.

This 1997 edition of Sine Die is a completely new book. Since the first edition of Sine Die was published in 1987, there have been dramatic changes in the Washington State Legislature and in state politics. Limits have been placed on campaign contributions and reporting requirements are expanded; ethics laws were passed following revelations of improper use of caucus staff; Initiative 601 was passed by the voters imposing limitations on state taxing and spending powers; the legislative process has been computerized and information is now easily and quickly accessible...