How are congressional norms changing, and what does their evolution mean for how Congress serves American democracy today?
Political scientists have long looked to the role of traditional norms to signal a general attitude among lawmakers that cooperation is part of their identities as members of Congress. But in this age of heightened political and partisan conflict, many “folkways” such as courtesy and reciprocity seem to be eroding, while other new norms are emerging.
This volume brings together leading congressional scholars to examine how norms have changed, what new norms are most prevalent in the modern Congress, and what effects norms have on the functioning of Congress in an era rife with political conflict. These essays address critical questions about how the U.S. Congress functions to serve American democracy and whether the functioning of Congress in the Twenty-first century is fundamentally different today from how the framers of the Constitution imagined it.
Acknowledgements
Forward, Senator Olympia Snowe
Preface, Congressman Daniel Lipinski
1. Introduction, Brian Alexander (Washington and Lee University, USA)
Historical Norms in the Modern Context
2. Maiden Speeches and Apprenticeship: Continuity and Change in the U.S. Senate, C. Luke Basham (George Washington University, USA)
3. From Reciprocity to Retribution: Rules Changes in the Senate and the Consequence for Norms, Lauren C. Bell (Randolph-Macon College, USA)
4. Measuring Specialization in the U.S. House and Senate through Floor Speeches, Robert X. Browning (Purdue University, USA)
5. Seniority and the Development of Procedural Norms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Joshua C. Huder (Georgetown University, USA)
6. Two Types of Legislative Conflict: Norm Breaking versus Party Polarization, Scot Schraufnagel and Nader Alghoul (Northern Illinois University, USA)
7. For the Good of Congress: Collective Acts of Institutional Patriotism on Capitol Hill, Andrew J. Taylor (North Carolina State University, USA)
New Norms for a New Era
8. Norms in Congressional Oversight Investigations: Problem-Solving Versus Partisan Messaging, Elise J. Bean (Wayne State University Law School, USA)
9. Stretching Rules in the Modern Congress, Sarah Binder (George Washington University, USA)
10. Mutual Intolerance: Declining Civility in Official Office Communications, Casey Burgat (George Washington University, USA) and Annelise Russell (University of Kentucky, USA)
11. The House of Representatives’ Century-long Norm of Respecting States’ Election Determinations, Kevin R. Kosar (American Enterprise Institute, USA)
12. Norms and Rules in the Contemporary Congressional Budget Process, Molly Reynolds (The Brookings Institution, USA)
13. Democratic Norms of the Legislative Process, Matthew N. Green (Catholic University of America, USA)
Afterword: The New Normal in Congress And Its Changing Norms, Donald R. Wolfensberger (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA)
About the Contributors
Index
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