Explores how redistricting, demographic shifts, and political polarization are impacting legislation and voting behavior in the US Congress.
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Stonecash (political science, Syracuse U.), Brewer (government, Colby College), and Mariani (PhD candidate, Syracuse U.) argue that polarization between the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. Congress has significantly increased over recent decades and seek to explain why. They contend that long-term secular realignment and social change has resulted in a situation where the diversity within the electoral base of the two parties has decreased while the differences between the bases have grown. After presenting the explanatory framework for their analysis, they review the realignment changes of the parties before the 1970s. The heart of the work focuses on the enfranchisement of the black population since the 1970s, the rise of inequality, and the increase in the Hispanic population, identifying these factors as the drivers of party realignment in the past few decades. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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