Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress

by Brady, David W.; McCubbins, Mathew D.

• ISBN13: 9780804745703
• ISBN10: 0804745706
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-20
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

In recent decades, political scientists have produced an enormous body of scholarship dealing with the U.S. Congress, and in particular congressional organization. However, most of this research has focused on Congress in the twentieth century--especially the post-New Deal era--and the long history of Congress has been largely neglected. The contributors to this book demonstrate that this inattention to congressional history has denied us many rich opportunities to more fully understand the evolution and functioning of the modern Congress. In striking contrast to the modern era, which is marked by only modest partisan realignment and institutional change, the period preceding the New Deal was a time of rapid and substantial change in Congress. During the nation's first 150 years, parties emerged, developed, and realigned; the standing rules of the House and Senate expanded and underwent profound changes; the workload of Congress increased dramatically; and both houses grew considerably in size. Studying history is valuable in large part because it allows scholars to observe greater variation in many of the parameters of their theories, and to test their core assumptions. A historical approach pushes scholars to recognize and confront the limits of their theories, resulting in theories that have increased validity and broader applicability. Thus, incorporating history into political science gives us a more dynamic view of Congress than the relatively static picture that emerges from a strict focus on recent periods. Each contributor engages one of three general questions that have animated the literature on congressional politics in recent years: What is the role of party organizations in policy making? In what ways have congressional process and procedure changed over the years? How does congressional process and procedure affect congressional politics and policy?

Author Biography

David W. Brady is Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Political Science in the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Among his books are Continuity and Change in House Elections (with John F. Cogan and Morris P. Fiorina, Stanford, 2000) and Critical Elections and Congressional Policy Making (Stanford, 1988). Mathew D. McCubbins is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. His work on Congress includes Legislative Leviathan (with Gary W. Cox).

Table of Contents

Contributors	ix
Tables	xv
Figures	xix
Acknowledgments	xxii
Party, Process, and Political Change: New Perspectives on the History of Congress	1	(16)
David W. Brady
Mathew D. Mccubbins
PART I: PARTIES, COMMITTEES, AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN CONGRESS
The Historical Variability in Conditional Party Government, 1877--1994	17	(19)
John H. Aldrich
Mark M. Berger
David W. Rohde
Do Parties Matter?	36	(28)
Barbara Sinclair
Party and Preference in Congressional Decision Making: Roll Call Voting in the House of Representatives, 1889--1999	64	(43)
Joseph Cooper
Garry Young
Agenda Power in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1877--1986	107	(39)
Gary W. Cox
Mathew D. Mccubbins
Agenda Power in the U.S. Senate, 1877--1986	146	(20)
Andrea C. Campbell
Gary W. Cox
Mathew D. Mccubbins
Party Loyalty and Committee Leadership in the House, 1921--40	166	(29)
Brian R. Sala
PART II: THE EVOLUTION AND CHOICE OF CONGRESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Order from Chaos: The Transformation of the Committee System in the House, 1816--22	195	(42)
Jeffery A. Jenkins
Charles H. Stewart III
Leadership and Institutional Change in the Nineteenth-Century House	237	(33)
Randall Strahan
Institutional Evolution and the Rise of the Tuesday-Thursday Club in the House of Representatives	270	(17)
Timothy P. Nokken
Brian R. Sala
Policy Leadership and the Development of the Modern Senate	287	(28)
Gerald Gamm
Steven S. Smith
PART III: POLICY CHOICE AND CONGRESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Why Congress? What the Failure of the Confederation Congress and the Survival of the Federal Congress Tell Us About the New Institutionalism	315	(28)
John H. Aldrich
Calvin C. Jillson
Rick K. Wilson
Agenda Manipulation, Strategic Voting, and Legislative Details in the Compromise of 1850	343	(49)
Sean M. Theriault
Barry R. Weingast
Congress and the Territorial Expansion of the United States	392	(60)
Nolan Mccarty
Keith T. Poole
Howard Rosenthal
Representation of the Antebellum South in the House of Representatives: Measuring the Impact of the Three-Fifths Clause	452	(19)
Brian D. Humes
Elaine K. Swift
Richard M. Valelly
Kenneth Finegold
Evelyn C. Fink
Afterword: History as a Laboratory	471	(2)
David W. Brady
Mathew D. Mccubbins
Notes	473	(28)
Works Cited	501	(24)
Name Index	525	(8)
Subject Index	533