Books in the American Politics & Political Economy S. series

This text examines the role played by the mass media and public opinion in the development of United States foreign policy in the Gulf War. It explores the prewar media debate, news coverage during and after the war, and the media's effect on public opinion and decision-makers.

Oberlander provides a comprehensive hostory of Medicare politics, from the decades of consensus to debates over Medicare reform. Revealing how Medicare policies have developed over the past several decades this analysis will interest anyone concerned with public policy or healthcare.

Studies a century of budget data from states and cities to provide a picture of how direct democracy is changing government policies. This book argues against the belief that initiatives empower wealthy special interest groups that neglect the majority view. It demonstrates how initiatives led to significant tax and expenditure cuts.

Government spending has increased in the United States since World War II despite the many rules intended to rein in the insatiable appetite for tax revenue most politicians seem to share. This book explains why these budget rules tend to fail, and proposes alternatives for imposing the fiscal discipline on our legislators.

Offers a revision of the understanding of the rise of the American regulatory state in the late 19th century. The book argues that politically mobilized farmers were the driving force behind most of the legislation that increased national control over private economic power.

The USA has had a highly-politicized and divisive history of foreign policy-making. This text examines American foreign policy and the domestic and geopolitical forces shaping it. It shows how interdisciplinary scholarship can cast light on the connections between domestic and international change.

A text seeking to refute one of the cornerstone beliefs of economics and political science: that economic markets are more efficient than the processes and institutions of democratic government.

An examination of American attitudes toward race and racial policies. This book shows that racial resentment powerfully affects white opinion on such issues as: welfare, affirmative action, school desegregation, and the plight of the inner city. The opinions of black Americans are also studied.

An account of the relationship between American policy and public opinion during the Gulf crisis. Comparisons are made to other wars such as those in Panama, Vietnam, Korea and the Falklands, as well as to World War II. The book features 300 tables charting public opinion through the Gulf crisis.

For most bills in American legislature, the issue of turf - or which committee has jurisdiction over a bill - is crucial. This study explains how jurisdictional areas for committees are created and changed in Congress, and dissects the politics of "turf-grabbing".

Drawing on original research, case studies of policy-making in Congress and portraits of American law-makers, this book argues that the institutional framework created by the founding fathers continues to foster a government that is both democratic and deliberative.