What happened to the vital center?: presidentialism, populist revolt, and the fracturing of America

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jacobs, Nicholas, author.

Milkis, Sidney, author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (360 p.) ill

Place of Publication:

Oxford University Press 2020

Summary:

This title demonstrates that American politics has become so rancorous because it has been unable to heal wounds opened up by Sixties-era protest and institutional change. While many scholars suggest that the answer to our current predicament is greater presidential power, this work shows that doubling down on the myth of transcendent presidential leadership is likely to exacerbate, not heal, our wounds. Instead, the authors recommend that a reconstituted party system may once again permit political leaders to prevent the worst excesses to democracy that now routinely roil the country.

Contents:

1. Populism and American Democracy 2. The American Party System and Populist Upheaval: Mediating Anger and Discontent, 1800-1945 3. Origins of Executive-Centered Partisanship and the Quest for Responsible Party Government 4. Liberalism Transformed: The Democratic Party Since 1960 5. Conservatism Transformed: The Republican Party Since 1960 6. Culminating Developments: Presidential Power, Liberalism, and Conservatism in the 21st Century 7. Conclusion: Executive-Centered Partisanship and the Future of American Democracy

ISBN:

0-19-760354-8

0-19-760353-X

0-19-760355-6