Beyond the Electoral Connection

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Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 1512807508
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (128 download)

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Book Synopsis Beyond the Electoral Connection by : Kim Ezra Shienbaum

Download or read book Beyond the Electoral Connection written by Kim Ezra Shienbaum and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2016-11-11 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American voting behavior has long been paradoxical. Although levels of voter participation increase with age, income, and education, middle- and upper-class voters—those who profess to hold the electoral process in the highest regard—still tend to cast their ballots by "image" rather than issue. Beyond the Electoral Connection provides a comprehensive analysis and systematic explanation of this fundamental paradox. Kim Ezra Shienbaum's unusually broad perspective leads her to conclude that the nature of American democracy has been altered in fundamental ways over the past thirty years. She asserts that voters have rationally adjusted their political behavior to cope with a system in which public policy outcomes are determined largely by judicial and bureaucratic politics rather than through electoral politics. Shienbaum concludes that for the average "smart" voter, a trip to the polls is little more than an act of political ritualism: a demonstration of support for the status quo.

Beyond the Boundaries

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351313908
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (513 download)

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Book Synopsis Beyond the Boundaries by : Georgia A. Persons

Download or read book Beyond the Boundaries written by Georgia A. Persons and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past, African American aspirations for political offi ce were assumed to be limited to areas with sizeable black population bases. By and large, black candidates have rarely been successful in statewide or national elections. This has been attributed to several factors: limited resources available to African American candidates, or identifi cation with a black liberationist ideological thrust. Other factors have been a relatively small and spatially concentrated primary support base of black voters, and the persistent resistance of many white voters to support black candidates. For these reasons, the possibility of black candidates winning elections to national offi ce was presumably just a dream. Conventional wisdom conceded a virtual cap on both the possible number of black elected officials and the level of elective offi ce to which they could ascend. But objective political analysis has not always made sufficient allowances for the more universal phenomenon of individual political ambitions. Th e contributors to this volume explore the ways ambitious individuals identifi ed and seized upon strategies that are expanding the boundaries of African American electoral politics. This volume is anchored by a symposium that focuses on new possibiities in African American politics. Both the electoral contests of 2006 and the Barack Obama presidential campaign represent an emergent dynamic in American electoral politics. Analysts are beginning to agree that the contours of social change now make the electoral successes of black candidates who are perceived as ideologically and culturally mainstream increasingly likely. The debate captured in this volume will likely inspire further scholarly inquiry into the changing nature and dimensions of the larger dynamic of race in American politics and the subsequent changing political fortunes of African American candidates.

Democracy Beyond Elections

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030252949
Total Pages : 339 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy Beyond Elections by : Gergana Dimova

Download or read book Democracy Beyond Elections written by Gergana Dimova and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-08-28 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the analytical framework for understanding the relationship between media scandals, executive accountability and the crisis of democracy. The empirical findings are based on an original database of 6000 media allegations and investigations in Russia, Germany and Bulgaria. Observations gained from the case studies are then placed in relation to a systematic analysis and critique of more than 100 models of the transformation and crisis of democracy. The book will be of particular interest to researchers focusing on democratic theory and political thought, as well as those working empirically in the field of democratic systems.

Governing in a Polarized Age

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107095093
Total Pages : 407 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Governing in a Polarized Age by : Alan S. Gerber

Download or read book Governing in a Polarized Age written by Alan S. Gerber and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-27 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides an in-depth examination of representation and legislative performance in contemporary American politics.

Congress

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300130010
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis Congress by : David R. Mayhew

Download or read book Congress written by David R. Mayhew and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2004-11-10 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Any short list of major analyses of Congress must of necessity include David Mayhew’s Congress: The Electoral Connection." —Fred Greenstein In this second edition to a book that has achieved canonical status, David R. Mayhew argues that the principal motivation of legislators is reelection and that the pursuit of this goal affects the way they behave and the way that they make public policy. In a new foreword for this edition, R. Douglas Arnold discusses why the book revolutionized the study of Congress and how it has stood the test of time.

Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 067497414X
Total Pages : 545 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

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Book Synopsis Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? by : Alexander Keyssar

Download or read book Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? written by Alexander Keyssar and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-31 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Statesman Book of the Year “America’s greatest historian of democracy now offers an extraordinary history of the most bizarre aspect of our representative democracy—the electoral college...A brilliant contribution to a critical current debate.” —Lawrence Lessig, author of They Don’t Represent Us Every four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Congress has tried on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College, and in this master class in American political history, a renowned Harvard professor explains its confounding persistence. After tracing the tangled origins of the Electoral College back to the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Keyssar outlines the constant stream of efforts since then to abolish or reform it. Why have they all failed? The complexity of the design and partisan one-upmanship have a lot to do with it, as do the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments and the South’s long history of restrictive voting laws. By revealing the reasons for past failures and showing how close we’ve come to abolishing the Electoral College, Keyssar offers encouragement to those hoping for change. “Conclusively demonstrates the absurdity of preserving an institution that has been so contentious throughout U.S. history and has not infrequently produced results that defied the popular will.” —Michael Kazin, The Nation “Rigorous and highly readable...shows how the electoral college has endured despite being reviled by statesmen from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson to Edward Kennedy, Bob Dole, and Gerald Ford.” —Lawrence Douglas, Times Literary Supplement

Party Influence in Congress

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139465252
Total Pages : 17 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis Party Influence in Congress by : Steven S. Smith

Download or read book Party Influence in Congress written by Steven S. Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-05-28 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Party Influence in Congress challenges current arguments and evidence about the influence of political parties in the US Congress. Steven S. Smith argues that theory must reflect policy, electoral, and collective party goals. These goals call for flexible party organizations and leadership strategies. They demand that majority party leaders control the flow of legislation; package legislation and time action to build winning majorities and attract public support; work closely with a president of their party; and influence the vote choices for legislators. Smith observes that the circumstantial evidence of party influence is strong, multiple collective goals remain active ingredients after parties are created, party size is an important factor in party strategy, both negative and positive forms of influence are important to congressional parties, and the needle-in-the-haystack search for direct influence continues to prove frustrating.

The Logic of Congressional Action

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300056594
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (565 download)

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Book Synopsis The Logic of Congressional Action by : R. Douglas Arnold

Download or read book The Logic of Congressional Action written by R. Douglas Arnold and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Congress regularly enacts laws that benefit particular groups or localities while imposing costs on everyone else. Sometimes, however, Congress breaks free of such parochial concerns and enacts bills that serve the general public, not just special interest groups. In this important and original book, R. Douglas Arnold offers a theory that explains not only why special interests frequently triumph but also why the general public sometimes wins. By showing how legislative leaders build coalitions for both types of programs, he illuminates recent legislative decisions in such areas as economic, tax, and energy policy. Arnold's theory of policy making rests on a reinterpretation of the relationship between legislators' actions and their constituents' policy preferences. Most scholars explore the impact that citizens' existing policy preferences have on legislators' decisions. They ignore citizens who have no opinions because they assume that uninformed citizens cannot possibly affect legislators' choices. Arnold examines the influence of citizens' potential preferences, however, and argues that legislators also respond to these preferences in order to avoid future electoral problems. He shows how legislators estimate the political consequences of their voting decisions, taking into account both the existing preferences of attentive citizens and the potential preferences of inattentive citizens. He then analyzes how coalition leaders manipulate the legislative situation in order to make it attractive for legislators to support a general interest bill.

Party Polarization in Congress

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 113947300X
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis Party Polarization in Congress by : Sean M. Theriault

Download or read book Party Polarization in Congress written by Sean M. Theriault and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-08-11 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The political parties in Congress are as polarized as they have been in 100 years. This book examines more than 30 years of congressional history to understand how it is that the Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have become so divided. It finds that two steps were critical for this development. First, the respective parties' constituencies became more politically and ideologically aligned. Second, members ceded more power to their party leaders, who implemented procedures more frequently and with greater consequence. In fact, almost the entire rise in party polarization can be accounted for in the increasing frequency of and polarization on procedures used during the legislative process.

The Increasingly United States

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022653040X
Total Pages : 307 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (265 download)

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Book Synopsis The Increasingly United States by : Daniel J. Hopkins

Download or read book The Increasingly United States written by Daniel J. Hopkins and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a campaign for state or local office these days, you’re as likely today to hear accusations that an opponent advanced Obamacare or supported Donald Trump as you are to hear about issues affecting the state or local community. This is because American political behavior has become substantially more nationalized. American voters are far more engaged with and knowledgeable about what’s happening in Washington, DC, than in similar messages whether they are in the South, the Northeast, or the Midwest. Gone are the days when all politics was local. With The Increasingly United States, Daniel J. Hopkins explores this trend and its implications for the American political system. The change is significant in part because it works against a key rationale of America’s federalist system, which was built on the assumption that citizens would be more strongly attached to their states and localities. It also has profound implications for how voters are represented. If voters are well informed about state politics, for example, the governor has an incentive to deliver what voters—or at least a pivotal segment of them—want. But if voters are likely to back the same party in gubernatorial as in presidential elections irrespective of the governor’s actions in office, governors may instead come to see their ambitions as tethered more closely to their status in the national party.

Politics Is for Power

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Publisher : Scribner
ISBN 13 : 1982116781
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

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Book Synopsis Politics Is for Power by : Eitan Hersh

Download or read book Politics Is for Power written by Eitan Hersh and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant condemnation of political hobbyism—treating politics like entertainment—and a call to arms for well-meaning, well-informed citizens who consume political news, but do not take political action. Who is to blame for our broken politics? The uncomfortable answer to this question starts with ordinary citizens with good intentions. We vote (sometimes) and occasionally sign a petition or attend a rally. But we mainly “engage” by consuming politics as if it’s a sport or a hobby. We soak in daily political gossip and eat up statistics about who’s up and who’s down. We tweet and post and share. We crave outrage. The hours we spend on politics are used mainly as pastime. Instead, we should be spending the same number of hours building political organizations, implementing a long-term vision for our city or town, and getting to know our neighbors, whose votes will be needed for solving hard problems. We could be accumulating power so that when there are opportunities to make a difference—to lobby, to advocate, to mobilize—we will be ready. But most of us who are spending time on politics today are focused inward, choosing roles and activities designed for our short-term pleasure. We are repelled by the slow-and-steady activities that characterize service to the common good. In Politics Is for Power, pioneering and brilliant data analyst Eitan Hersh shows us a way toward more effective political participation. Aided by political theory, history, cutting-edge social science, as well as remarkable stories of ordinary citizens who got off their couches and took political power seriously, this book shows us how to channel our energy away from political hobbyism and toward empowering our values.

Beyond Turnout

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198832923
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis Beyond Turnout by : Shane P. Singh

Download or read book Beyond Turnout written by Shane P. Singh and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beyond Turnout crafts a new theory that considers the downstream consequences of compulsory voting for both citizens and political parties. This theory is comprehensively tested through data from dozens of countries, with a particular focus on Argentina and Switzerland.

Democracy for Realists

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400888743
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy for Realists by : Christopher H. Achen

Download or read book Democracy for Realists written by Christopher H. Achen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why our belief in government by the people is unrealistic—and what we can do about it Democracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens. Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels deploy a wealth of social-scientific evidence, including ingenious original analyses of topics ranging from abortion politics and budget deficits to the Great Depression and shark attacks, to show that the familiar ideal of thoughtful citizens steering the ship of state from the voting booth is fundamentally misguided. They demonstrate that voters—even those who are well informed and politically engaged—mostly choose parties and candidates on the basis of social identities and partisan loyalties, not political issues. They also show that voters adjust their policy views and even their perceptions of basic matters of fact to match those loyalties. When parties are roughly evenly matched, elections often turn on irrelevant or misleading considerations such as economic spurts or downturns beyond the incumbents' control; the outcomes are essentially random. Thus, voters do not control the course of public policy, even indirectly. Achen and Bartels argue that democratic theory needs to be founded on identity groups and political parties, not on the preferences of individual voters. Now with new analysis of the 2016 elections, Democracy for Realists provides a powerful challenge to conventional thinking, pointing the way toward a fundamentally different understanding of the realities and potential of democratic government.

Multi-level Electoral Politics

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198791534
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (987 download)

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Book Synopsis Multi-level Electoral Politics by : Sona Nadenichek Golder

Download or read book Multi-level Electoral Politics written by Sona Nadenichek Golder and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National-level elections receive more attention from scholars and the media than elections at other levels, even though in many European countries the importance of both regional and European levels of government has grown in recent years. The growing importance of multiple electoral arenas suggests that scholars should be cautious about examining single levels in isolation. Taking the multilevel structure of electoral politics seriously requires a re-examination of how the incentives created by electoral institutions affect the behaviour of voters and party elites. The standard approach to analysing multilevel elections is the second-order election (SOE) model, in which national elections are considered to be first-order elections while other elections are second order. However, this model does not provide micro mechanisms that determine how elections in one arena affect those in another, or explain variations in individual voting behaviour. The objective of this book is to explain how party and voter behaviour in a given election is affected by the existence of multiple electoral arenas. It provides original qualitative and quantitative data to examine European, national, and subnational elections in France, Germany, and Spain from 2011-2015. The volume examines party mobilization efforts across multiple electoral arenas, as well as decisions by individual voters with respect to turnout, strategic voting, and accountability. This book provides the first systematic analysis of multilevel electoral politics at three different levels across multiple countries. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu. The series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Universite libre de Bruxelles; Ferdinand Muller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston.

Congressional Elections

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Publisher : CQ Press
ISBN 13 : 1483392627
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (833 download)

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Book Synopsis Congressional Elections by : Paul S. Herrnson

Download or read book Congressional Elections written by Paul S. Herrnson and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington author Paul Herrnson combines top-notch research with real-world politics as he argues that successful candidates run two campaigns: one for votes, the other for resources. Using campaign finance data, original survey research, and hundreds of interviews with candidates and political insiders, Herrnson looks at how this dual strategy affects who wins and how it ultimately shapes the entire electoral system. The Seventh Edition considers the impact of the Internet and social media on campaigning; the growing influence of interest groups in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling; and the influence of new voting methods on candidate, party, and voter mobilization tactics.

Representation

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Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 081220817X
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (122 download)

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Book Synopsis Representation by : Jack H. Nagel

Download or read book Representation written by Jack H. Nagel and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2013-07-03 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In any democracy, the central problem of governance is how to inform, organize, and represent the opinions of the public in order to advance three goals: popular control over leaders, equality among citizens, and competent governance. In most political analyses, voting is emphasized as the central and essential process in achieving these goals. Yet democratic representation encompasses a great deal more than voter beliefs and behavior and, indeed, involves much more than the machinery of elections. Democracy requires government agencies that respond to voter decisions, a civil society in which powerful organized interests do not dominate all others, and communication systems that permit divergent voices to be heard. Representation: Elections and Beyond brings together leading international scholars from a wide range of disciplines to explore the twenty-first-century innovations—in voting laws and practices, in electoral systems, in administrative, political, and civil organizations, and in communication processes and new technologies—that are altering how we understand democratic representation. Featuring twelve essays that engage with national, provincial, and municipal governments across three continents, this volume tackles traditional core elements of democratic representation, such as voting, electoral systems, and political parties, while also underscoring the ways in which beliefs and preferences of citizens are influenced, expressed, and aggregated and the effects of those methods and practices on political agendas and policy outcomes. In pinpointing deficiencies in contemporary democratic practices and possibilities for reform, Representation provides an invaluable roadmap to improve democratic representation in the twenty-first century. Contributors: André Blais, Pradeep Chhibber, Archon Fung, Jacob Hacker, Zoltan Hajnal, Matthew Hindman, David Karpf, Georgia Kernell, Alexander Keyssar, Anthony McGann, Susan Ostermann, Paul Pierson, Dennis Thompson, Jessica Trounstine, Mark E. Warren.

Insecure Majorities

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022640918X
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (264 download)

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Book Synopsis Insecure Majorities by : Frances E. Lee

Download or read book Insecure Majorities written by Frances E. Lee and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] tour de force. Building upon her argument in Beyond Ideology, she adds an important wrinkle into the current divide between the parties in Congress.” —Perspectives on Politics As Democrats and Republicans continue to vie for political advantage, Congress remains paralyzed by partisan conflict. That the last two decades have seen some of the least productive Congresses in recent history is usually explained by the growing ideological gulf between the parties, but this explanation misses another fundamental factor influencing the dynamic. In contrast to politics through most of the twentieth century, the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties compete for control of Congress at relative parity, and this has dramatically changed the parties’ incentives and strategies in ways that have driven the contentious partisanship characteristic of contemporary American politics. With Insecure Majorities, Frances E. Lee offers a controversial new perspective on the rise of congressional party conflict, showing how the shift in competitive circumstances has had a profound impact on how Democrats and Republicans interact. Beginning in the 1980s, most elections since have offered the prospect of a change of party control. Lee shows, through an impressive range of interviews and analysis, how competition for control of the government drives members of both parties to participate in actions that promote their own party’s image and undercut that of the opposition, including the perpetual hunt for issues that can score political points by putting the opposing party on the wrong side of public opinion. More often than not, this strategy stands in the way of productive bipartisan cooperation—and it is also unlikely to change as long as control of the government remains within reach for both parties.