James Madison Rules America: The Constitutional Origins of Congressional Partisanship

Connelly, William F, Jr.

ISBN 10: 0742599655 / ISBN 13: 9780742599659

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, Lanham, MD, 2010

About this Item

x, 339 p. Appendix: Research Interviews. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. James Madison Rules America examines congressional party legislative and electoral strategy in the context of our constitutional separation of powers. In a departure from recent books that have described Congress as "the broken branch" or the "Second Civil War, " William Connelly argues that partisanship, polarization and the permanent campaign are an inevitable part of congressional politics. The strategic conundrum confronting both parties in the House of Representatives-whether to be part of the "government" or part of the "opposition"-provides evidence of how concretely James Madison's Constitution governs the behavior of politicians to this day. Drawing on a two-hundred year debate within American political thought among the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Alexis de Tocqueville and Woodrow Wilson, James Madison Rules America is as topical as current debates over partisan polarization and the permanent campaign, while being grounded in two enduring and important schools of thought within political science: pluralism and party government. Very good. Signed by author. Slight sticker residue to front and back cover.

Seller Inventory # 66824

Bibliographic Details

• Title: James Madison Rules America: The Constitutional Origins of Congressional Partisanship
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, Lanham, MD
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0742599655
• ISBN 13: 9780742599659
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Presumed first edition/first printing.
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Woodrow Wilson

About this title

Synopsis

James Madison Rules America examines congressional party legislative and electoral strategy in the context of our constitutional separation of powers. In a departure from recent books that have described Congress as “the broken branch” or the “Second Civil War,” William Connelly argues that partisanship, polarization and the permanent campaign are an inevitable part of congressional politics. The strategic conundrum confronting both parties in the House of Representatives – whether to be part of the “government” or part of the “opposition” – provides evidence of how concretely James Madison's Constitution governs the behavior of politicians to this day. Drawing on a two-hundred year debate within American political thought among the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Alexis de Tocqueville and Woodrow Wilson, James Madison Rules America is as topical as current debates over partisan polarization and the permanent campaign, while being grounded in two enduring and important schools of thought within political science: pluralism and party government.

About the Author

William F. Connelly, Jr is a John K. Boardman Politics Professor at Washington and Lee University.