Is bipartisanship dead? : policy agreement and agenda-setting in the House of Representatives / Laurel Harbridge, Northwestern University

Author: Harbridge, Laurel
Published: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Physical Description: 1 online resource (x, 258 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

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Contents

A puzzle of declining bipartisanship -- Strategic partisan agenda-setting : a theoretical framework -- Agenda-setting and the decline of bipartisan cooperation -- Variation in strategic partisan agenda-setting -- Strategic partisan agenda-setting across policy areas -- District responsiveness and member-party relationships -- The past, present, and future of bipartisanship.

Summary

Is Bipartisanship Dead? looks beyond (and considers the time before) roll call voting to examine the extent to which bipartisan agreement in the House of Representatives has declined since the 1970s. Despite voting coalitions showing a decline in bipartisan agreement between 1973 and 2004, member's bill cosponsorship coalitions show a more stable level of bipartisanship. The declining bipartisanship over time in roll call voting reflects a shift in how party leaders structure the floor and roll call agendas. Party leaders in the House changed from prioritizing legislation with bipartisan agreement in the 1970s to prioritizing legislation with partisan disagreement by the 1990s. Laurel Harbridge argues that this shift reflects a changing political environment and an effort by leaders to balance members' electoral interests, governance goals, and partisan differentiation. The findings speak to questions of representation and governance. They also shed light on whether partisan conflict is insurmountable and whether bipartisanship in congressional politics is dead.

Subject(s)

ISBN

9781139942324 (ebook)
9781107079953 (hardback)
9781107439283 (paperback)

Note

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

View MARC record | catkey: 34831109