1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455345103321

Autore

Mayhew David R

Titolo

Parties and policies [[electronic resource] ] : how the American government works / / David R. Mayhew

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven, : Yale University Press, c2008

ISBN

0-300-15176-4

9786612353208

1-282-35320-9

1-282-08961-7

9786612089619

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (408 p.)

Disciplina

320.60973

Soggetti

Political planning - United States

Political parties - United States

Policy sciences

Electronic books.

United States Politics and government

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- The Electoral Incentive -- Congressional Elections: The Case of the Vanishing Marginals -- Why Did V. O. Key Draw Back from His ''Have-Nots'' Claim? -- Divided Party Control: Does It Make a Difference? -- Clinton, the 103d Congress, and Unified Party Control: What Are the Lessons? -- U.S. Policy Waves in Comparative Context -- Presidential Elections and Policy Change: How Much of a Connection Is There? -- Innovative Midterm Elections -- Electoral Realignments -- Actions in the Public Sphere -- Supermajority Rule in the U.S. Senate -- Wars and American Politics -- Events as Causes: The Case of American Politics -- Incumbency Advantage in U.S. Presidential Elections: The Historical Record -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In this wide-ranging new volume, one of our most important and perceptive scholars of the workings of the American government investigates political parties, politicians, elections, and policymaking to



discover why public policy emerges in the shape that it does. David R. Mayhew looks at two centuries of policy making-from the Civil War and Reconstruction era through the Progressive era, the New Deal, the Great Society, the Reagan years, and the aspirations of the Clinton and Bush administrations-and offers his original insights on the ever-evolving American policy experience. These fourteen essays were written over the past three decades and collectively showcase Mayhew's skepticism of the usefulness of political parties as an analytic window into American politics. These writings, which include a new introductory essay, probe beneath the parties to the essentials of the U.S. constitutional system and the impulses and idiosyncrasies of history.