How Congress Evolves: Social Bases of Institutional Change

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Summary: Polsby at his best
Review: "How Congress Evolves" is elegantly written, cogently argued, and politically astute. Nelson Polsby gives his readers the benefit of four decades and more of immersion in and observation of Congress, along with his penetrating insights into politics, people, and institutions, and a writing style that is at once accessible and sophisticated. Novices and experts, students and practitioners, scholars and journalists, all will learn immensely about how the House of Representatives works and how it changes."--Norman Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute

Rating:
Summary: REVIEW
Review: From the Publisher: "Nelson Polsby has been studying, reading about and hanging around the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 40 years. In "How Congress Evolves", he provides the definitive--and often witty-account of how the House has changed over time, and why." Michael Barone, coauthor, "The Almanac of American Politics"

Rating:
Summary: Elegant Description of aTransformation in American Politics
Review: This book provides an elegant description of one of the most important transformations of American politics: the end of the Dixiecrats and the transformation of the Solid South from the Democrats to the Republicans. He importantly connects this with the rise of the power of the caucus and leadership. It also has implications for the crisis of partisanship in Congress.

The book basically concerns several interwoven phenomena, the House Democratic Caucus exerting political control on its conservative southern members and the rise of the Republican South. Polsby demonstrates how demographic and sociological phenomena weakened the grip of the South on Democratic Party machinery, pulling the Democratic Party to the left. This increased the pressure on Dixiecrats to switch parties, once it became acceptable to be a Southern Democrat.

Polsby also discusses the rise of contemporary partisanship. As the Caucus got the power to discipline its chairman, it demanded an end to bipartisanship. This weakened Republican moderates who called for cooperation and working with the Democrats. This led to the rise in power of Newt Gingrich (an Amazon reviewer!) who advocated a different strategy that eventually led to the 1994 election.

Excellent book, and excellent insights. In several ways, this book will help me do my job better as a staffer in the House of Representatives.