Can America Govern Itself?

Analyzes how rising party polarization, unequal representation, and economic inequalities affect the performance of American governing institutions.

Frances E. Lee (Edited by), Nolan McCarty (Edited by)

9781108497299, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 June 2019

368 pages, 55 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.4 cm, 0.66 kg

'With public trust in political institutions plummeting, parties growing ever more divided, and our elected leaders failing to attend to pressing national problems, we are right to wonder whether our political system is up to the most basic tasks of governance. In this fine volume, Frances E. Lee and Nolan McCarty assemble a terrific group of scholars who offer a range of answers - some reassuring, some not - that reformers would do well to heed in this age of anxiety.' William Howell, University of Chicago

Can America Govern Itself? brings together a diverse group of distinguished scholars to analyze how rising party polarization and economic inequality have affected the performance of American governing institutions. It is organized around two themes: the changing nature of representation in the United States; and how changes in the political environment have affected the internal processes of institutions, overall government performance, and policy outcomes. The chapters in this volume analyze concerns about power, influence and representation in American politics, the quality of deliberation and political communications, the management and implementation of public policy, and the performance of an eighteenth century constitution in today's polarized political environment. These renowned scholars provide a deeper and more systematic grasp of what is new, and what is perennial in challenges to democracy at a fraught moment.

1. Anxieties of American democracy Frances E. Lee and Nolan McCarty
Part I. Anxieties of Power, Influence, and Representation: 2. In the private interest? Business influence and American democracy Anthony S. Chen
3. The interest group top tier: lobbying inequality and American governance Lee Drutman, Matt Grossmann and Timothy LaPira
4. Developments in Congressional responsiveness to donor opinion Brandice Canes-Wrone and Nathan Gibson
5. Minority protest and the early stages of governmental responsiveness in the electoral process Daniel Gillion and Patricia Posey
6. The hollow parties Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld
Part II. Procedural Anxieties: 7. Does regular order produce a more deliberative Congress? Evidence from the annual appropriations process Lee Drutman and Peter Hanson
8. Congress at work: legislative capacity and entrepreneurship in the contemporary Congress James Curry and Frances Lee
9. Dumbing down? Trends in the complexity of political communication Kenneth Benoit, Kevin Munger and Arthur Spirling
Part III. Anxieties of Governance: 10. Public policy and political dysfunction: the policyscape, policy maintenance, and oversight Suzanne Mettler and Claire Leavitt
11. The effects of partisan polarization on the bureaucracy David Spence
12. Polarization and the changing American constitutional system Nolan McCarty.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Political structure & processes [JPH], Political science & theory [JPA]