In this Book
- On Parliamentary War: Partisan Conflict and Procedural Change in the U.S. Senate
- Book
- 2017
- Published by: University of Michigan Press
- Series: Legislative Politics and Policy Making
summary
Dysfunction in the contemporary Senate is driven by the deteriorating relationship between the majority and minority parties in the institution. In this environment, regular order is virtually nonexistent and unorthodox parliamentary procedures are frequently needed to pass important legislation. This is because Democrats and Republicans are now fighting a parliamentary war in the Senate to help steer the future direction of the country. James Wallner presents a new, bargaining model of procedural change to better explain the persistence of the filibuster in the current polarized environment, and focuses on the dynamics ultimately responsible for the nature and direction of contested procedural change. Wallner’s model explains why Senate majorities have historically tolerated the filibuster, even when it has been used to defeat their agenda, despite having the power to eliminate it unilaterally at any point. It also improves understanding of why the then-Democratic majority chose to depart from past practice when they utilized the nuclear option to eliminate the filibuster for one of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees in 2013. On Parliamentary War’s game-theoretic approach provides a more accurate understanding of the relationship between partisan conflict and procedural change in the contemporary Senate.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright, Epigraph
- pp. i-vi
- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-viii
- List of Illustrations
- pp. xi-xii
- One. On Parliamentary War
- pp. 1-18
- Part I. The Strategic Context of Procedural Change
- Two. Parliamentary War in Theory
- pp. 21-55
- Part II. A Tale of Two Minorities
- Five. The Case of a Determined Minority
- pp. 83-123
- Six. The Case of an Undetermined Minority
- pp. 124-170
- Part III. Deterrence in Parliamentary War
- Eight. Preventing Nuclear War
- pp. 190-214
- Nine. Conclusion
- pp. 215-222
- Bibliography
- pp. 235-244
Additional Information
ISBN
9780472123247
Related ISBN(s)
9780472130542
MARC Record
OCLC
1012847716
Pages
264
Launched on MUSE
2017-12-06
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2017