Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era

The conventional wisdom that Congress has become a deeply partisan institution where parties engage in legislative trench warfare and prefer gridlock to compromise is challenged by James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee's book "The Limits of Party". They analyze legislative histories and interviews with Washington insiders to conclude that bipartisanship remains the key to legislative success on Capitol Hill, with majority parties building bipartisan coalitions and compromising on their original visions to achieve legislative success.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 200 pages
\n Publication date: 22 September 2020
\n Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
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The authors argue that the conventional wisdom about congressional partisanship is based on a flawed understanding of the legislative process. They suggest that the parties have become more sophisticated in their approach to legislating and that they are more likely to build bipartisan coalitions for their legislative priorities. The authors also argue that the media and political elites have contributed to the perception that congressional partisanship is more intense than it actually is.

In conclusion, The Limits of Party is a valuable contribution to the literature on congressional politics. By challenging the conventional wisdom about congressional partisanship, the authors provide a new perspective on the legislative process and offer a roadmap for building bipartisan coalitions in Congress. This book will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, and anyone who wants to understand how Congress works and how to improve it.

In recent years, Congress has been widely perceived as a deeply partisan institution, where ideologically distinct political parties engage in legislative trench warfare, and a zero-sum, winner-take-all approach to congressional politics has replaced the bipartisan comity of past eras. This perception has led many observers to believe that if parties cannot get everything they want in national policymaking, they prefer gridlock and stalemate to compromise. However, in their book, The Limits of Party, James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee challenge this conventional wisdom by constructing legislative histories of congressional majority parties' attempts to enact their policy agendas in every congress since the 1980s and drawing on interviews with Washington insiders.

The authors' analysis reveals that, even in our time of intense party polarization, bipartisanship remains the key to legislative success on Capitol Hill. Congressional majority parties today are neither more nor less successful at enacting their partisan agendas. They are not more likely to ram through partisan laws or become mired in stalemate. Instead, the parties continue to build bipartisan coalitions for their legislative priorities and typically compromise on their original visions for legislation in order to achieve legislative success.

The authors argue that the conventional wisdom about congressional partisanship is based on a flawed understanding of the legislative process. They suggest that the parties have become more sophisticated in their approach to legislating and that they are more likely to build bipartisan coalitions for their legislative priorities. The authors also argue that the media and political elites have contributed to the perception that congressional partisanship is more intense than it actually is.

In conclusion, The Limits of Party is a valuable contribution to the literature on congressional politics. By challenging the conventional wisdom about congressional partisanship, the authors provide a new perspective on the legislative process and offer a roadmap for building bipartisan coalitions in Congress. This book will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, and anyone who wants to understand how Congress works and how to improve it.

\n Weight: 450g\n
Dimension: 234 x 228 x 16 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780226716350\n \n