Leadership Organizations in the House of Representatives
Party Participation and Partisan Politics
Electoral competition and polarization transformed leadership organizations and the nature of party participation in the House
Description
In recent Congresses, roughly half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives served in whip organizations and on party committees. According to Scott R. Meinke, rising electoral competition and polarization over the past 40 years have altered the nature of party participation. In the 1970s and 1980s, the participation of a wide range of members was crucial to building consensus. Since then, organizations responsible for coordination in the party have become dominated by those who follow the party line. At the same time, key leaders in the House use participatory organizations less as forums for internal deliberations over policy and strategy than as channels for exchanging information with supporters outside Congress, and broadcasting sharply partisan campaign messages to the public.
Scott R. Meinke is Associate Professor of Political Science at Bucknell University.
Reviews
"Empirically revealing, theoretically challenging, and exceedingly well documented, this book is an exemplar of how to use archival materials to reveal the work of Congress, and a model of how the organizational study of Congress might proceed."
- Douglas Harris
--Congress & The Presidency