Kenneth C. Martis, The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789–1989 (New York: Macmillan, 1989, $190). Pp. 518. ISBN 0 02 920170 5.

Governments render decisions on how resources and values are allocated in a society. In the United States, Congress is the institution in which most of the key allocating decisions are made. To the extent the U.S. political system is integrated, the coalitions that form around the issues debated in Congress should be reflected in the coalitions that support presidential candidates and those that support the major political parties. We formulate a spatial theory of political change in which new ideological cleavages appear in congressional behavior and presidential elections and gradually reorganize the mass party base. The theory leads us explicitly to consider the question of dealignment and to specify conditions under which the parties will lose support from voters.

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Teaching the Congress and Legislative Process Courses

News for Teachers of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0197901900004438 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

pp. 9-11

Author(s):

L. Sandy Maisel

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

New York ◽

Research Group ◽

State Legislatures ◽

The United States ◽

Legislative Process ◽

United States Congress ◽

Legislative Studies ◽

Chief Executives ◽

American Presidency

At the APSA Convention in New York in 1981, the Presidency Research Group ran a very successful panel on “Teaching the American Presidency.” Those in attendance all were convinced that they gained useful insights into their own teaching by sharing experiences with others. In hopes of achieving the same goal, the Legislative Studies Group organized a similar panel of the 1982 meeting. This brief article served as background for the panel.Our panel is “similar,” not “parallel.“ Those in the Presidency Research Group nearly all teach courses on the American Presidency, not on chief executives. The teaching and research interests of our group are more diverse. Some of us concentrate on the United States Congress, others on the Congress and the various state legislatures, still others on the Congress and the various state legislatures, still others on comparative legislatures. The discussants on our panel were all authors of leading texts on the Congress; however, because of the interests of members of the group, this article discusses comparative legislature courses as well.

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Political Parties in the United States. By Allan P. Sindler. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1966. Pp. vi, 111.) - The Democratic Party in American Politics. By Ralph M. Goldman. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1966. Pp. 152. $1.50.) - Presidential Leadership. By Erwin C. Hargrove. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1966. Pp. v, 153.) - Interest Groups and Lobbying. By Abraham Holtzman. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1966. Pp. v, 154. $1.50, paper)

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055400135919 ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 61 (2) ◽

pp. 525-527 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Charles F. Cnudde

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

New York ◽

Political Parties ◽

Interest Groups ◽

American Politics ◽

Democratic Party ◽

Presidential Leadership ◽

The United States

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The historical atlas of political parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989

Choice Reviews Online ◽

10.5860/choice.27-0031 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 27 (01) ◽

pp. 27-0031-27-0031

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Political Parties ◽

The United States ◽

United States Congress

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The Party Whip Organizations in the United States House of Representatives

American Political Science Review ◽

10.2307/1953132 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 58 (3) ◽

pp. 561-576 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Randall B. Ripley

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Political Parties ◽

House Of Representatives ◽

Voting Behavior ◽

The United States ◽

The Political ◽

Present System ◽

United States Congress ◽

Adequate Model ◽

Party Government

In the literature on political parties in the United States Congress two points are usually stressed. First, it is said that the political party label lacks a precise programmatic content because “party government” in the British sense is absent in the American Congress. Second, however, it is contended that the party label is the single most important and reliable attribute in predicting the voting behavior of a Senator or Representative.Between these two contentions lies a sizeable area of unexplored territory. If party is the best predictive device in analyzing voting behavior in Congress then, despite the lack of “party government,” the party machinery in both houses must have effects that deserve study. Professor Huitt has suggested the necessity and importance of this kind of study: “… the preoccupation with reform has obscured the fact that we have no really adequate model of party leadership as it exists in Congress, and that none can be constructed because we lack simple descriptions of many of the basic working parts of the present system.” Huitt himself and a few others have filled some of these gaps.

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