Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in AmericaAlan S. Gerber, Eric Schickler Many political observers have expressed doubts as to whether America's leaders are up to the task of addressing major policy challenges. Yet much of the critical commentary lacks grounding in the systematic analysis of the core institutions of the American political system including elections, representation, and the law-making process. Governing in a Polarized Age brings together more than a dozen leading scholars to provide an in-depth examination of representation and legislative performance. Drawing upon the seminal work of David Mayhew as a point of departure, these essays explore the dynamics of incumbency advantage in today's polarized Congress, asking whether the focus on individual re-election that was the hallmark of Mayhew's ground-breaking book, Congress: The Electoral Connection, remains useful for understanding today's Congress. The essays link the study of elections with close analysis of changes in party organization and with a series of systematic assessments of the quality of legislative performance. |
Contents
The Electoral Connection Age 40 | 15 |
The Electoral Connection Then and Now | 35 |
A Baseline for Incumbency Effects | 90 |
Legislative Parties in an Era of Alternating Majorities | 115 |
Parties Factions and Coordinated Politics | 143 |
Party Polarization during | 191 |
Polarized We Govern? | 223 |
What Has Congress Done? | 243 |
Other editions - View all
Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties and Political ... Alan S. Gerber,Eric Schickler No preview available - 2017 |
Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political ... Alan S. Gerber,Eric Schickler No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
111th Congress agenda American Political average behavior bill campaign candidates Committee competition Congressional Elections consensus constituencies contingency correlation credit claiming David Mayhew decades districts DW-NOMINATE editorials effects Electoral Connection elite endorsed estimates example factions Fair Deal Figure Follette governor gridlock gun control ideal points ideological incumbency advantage institutional issues Jacobson Journal of Political Langer leaders Louisiana majoritarianism majority party measure members of Congress Minnesota minority nomination North Dakota Obama open seat winners organizations partisan partisanship party control party’s Patashnik percent period polarization policy analysis Political Science position taking president presidential vote problem procedural reelection reform Republican Party Republican Republican residual vote response roll call Sandy Hook significant legislation slate sophomore surge staff successful challengers theory ticket two-party U.S. Congress U.S. House U.S. Senate unified University Press V. O. Key vote share voters Wisconsin York