Political Parties and Constitutional Government

Remaking American Democracy
Erscheinungsjahr 1999
ISBN: 978-0-8018-6195-6
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 240 Seiten, Format (B × H): 154 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 322 g

The U.S. Constitution makes no mention of political parties, yet parties began to form shortly after its ratification. Today, American democracy would not work without them. In Political Parties and Constitutional Government, Sidney Milkis explores the uneasy relationship between the Constitution and the party system to advance a novel argument: political parties arose as part of a deliberate program of constitutional reform.

Forged on the anvil of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, parties initially formed as decentralized political associations that engaged the attention of ordinary citizens and held presidents accountable to local constituencies. But as the power of the presidency and the federal government grew, parties shifted their attention from building political support in the states and localities to vying for control over national administration and, in the process, lost their vital connection to the electorate. In the past thirty years, partisan disputes have more often than not involved confrontations between the president and Congress that have undermined the public's respect for American political institutions.

With the decline of localized parties, Milkis concludes, there has arisen an administrative politics of rights and entitlements that belittles the efforts of Democrats and Republicans alike to define a collective purpose. Ending with a discussion of possible methods of revitalization and reform, this timely book does much to explain the reasons behind Americans' disenchantment with parties and the party system.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Milkis, Sidney M.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Politische Parteien
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Staats- und Regierungsformen, Staatslehre
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Series Editor's Foreword
Preface

Chapter 1. Parties And American Democracy
Chapter 2. Localism, Political Parties, and Democratic Participation
Chapter 3. Progressivism and Direct Democracy: The Revival Of The Constitution-Against-Parties
Chapter 4. The New Deal Liberalism And The Doctrine Of Responsible Party Government

Chapter 5. Remaking American Politics: Participatory Democracy And The Triumph Of Administrative Politics
Chapter 6. Divided Government And Beltway Partisanship: Can There Be Another Realignment In American Democracy?
Chapter 7. Political Parties, Progressive Democracy, And The Future Of Politics In America
Notes
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Milkis, Sidney M.
Sidney M. Milkis is a professor of government and senior scholar at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. His books include The American Presidency: Origins and Development (with Michael Nelson) and The President and the Parties: The Transformation of the American Party System since the New Deal.