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This book argues that it was primarily the encounter with totalitarianism that dissolved the ideals of American progressivism and crystallized the ideals of postwar liberalism. In politics, the ideal of governance by a strong, independent executive was rejected and a politics of contending interest groups was embraced.
In Dynamics of American Political Parties, Mark D. Brewer and Jeffrey M. Stonecash examine the process of gradual change that inexorably shapes and reshapes American politics. Parties and the politicians that comprise them seek control of government in order to implement their visions of proper public policy. To gain control parties need to win elections, and winning elections requires assembling an electoral coalition that is larger than that crafted by the opposition. Parties are always looking for opportunities to build such winning coalitions, and opportunities are always there, but they are rarely, if ever, without risk. Uncertainty rules and intra-party conflict rages as different factions and groups within the parties debate the proper course(s) of action and battle it out for control of the party. Parties can never be sure how their strategic maneuvers will play out, and, even when it appears that a certain strategy has been successful, party leaders are unclear about how long apparent success will last. Change unfolds slowly, in fits and starts.
"How much does it cost?" We think of this question as one that preoccupies the nation's shoppers, not its statesmen. But, as Pocketbook Politics dramatically shows, the twentieth-century American polity in fact developed in response to that very consumer concern. In this groundbreaking study, Meg Jacobs demonstrates how pocketbook politics provided the engine for American political conflict throughout the twentieth century. From Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt to Richard Nixon, national politics turned on public anger over the high cost of living. Beginning with the explosion of prices at the turn of the century, every strike, demonstration, and boycott was, in effect, a protest against...
A critical exploration of how modernity and progress were imposed on the people and land of rural South Dakota The Rosebud Country, comprising four counties in rural South Dakota, was first established as the Rosebud Indian Reservation in 1889 to settle the Sicangu Lakota. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, white homesteaders arrived in the area and became the majority population. Today, the population of Rosebud Country is nearly evenly divided between Indians and whites. In Power and Progress on the Prairie, Thomas Biolsi traces how a variety of governmental actors, including public officials, bureaucrats, and experts in civil society, invented and applied ideas about m...
With the end of the Cold War, the death of Communism, and the decline of Socialism, what are the primary issues, ideologies, and parties that now structure politics? Melzer, Zinman, and Weinberger have compiled essays from prominent experts to examine the politics of the past to help plot the political future. The first half of the volume addresses “Identity Politics” and “Big Government” and their respective places in the shaping of the United States political environment since the end of the Cold War. The second half of the volume focuses on the political climate in Western Europe, Russia, India, and China.
This book addresses an important but inadequately recognized dimension of the activities of the modern state--the role it plays in producing the theoretical and practical knowledge necessary for economic policy making. Over time, governments in modern societies have assumed the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the economic well-being of their citizens and for protecting their competitive positions in the international economy. To perform their various coordinating functions effectively, and to maintain legitimacy, governments have found it necessary to rely on accurate information regarding economic conditions and trends, and on empirically based theories or models that allow officials t...
Whether seen as a land of opportunity or as paradise lost, the American West took shape in the nation's imagination with the help of those who wrote about it; but two groups who did much to shape that perception are often overlooked today. Promoters trying to lure settlers and investors to the West insisted that the frontier had already been tamed-that the only frontiers remaining were those of opportunity. Through posters, pamphlets, newspaper articles, and other printed pieces, these boosters literally imagined places into existence by depicting backwater areas as settled, culturally developed regions where newcomers would find none of the hardships associated with frontier life. Quick on ...
In this reassessment of New Deal policymaking, Rhonda Levine argues that the major constraints upon and catalysts for FDR's policies were rooted in class conflict. Countering neo-Marxist and state-centred theories, which focus on administrative and bureaucratic structures, she contends that too little attention has been paid to the effect of class struggle.
Concise and refreshingly balanced, this history portrays FDR as he confronted crises of epic proportions during his record 12-year tenure as our nation's chief executive. McJimsey gives a fresh account of Roosevelt's landmark administration and offers a new perspective on the New Deal. 12 photos.