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Taking a hard look at the changing demographics in the American South, The Dynamics of Southern Politics discusses how this region remains exceptional while also addressing how that exceptionalism is eroding. Author Seth McKee tells a historically rich story going back to the end of the Civil War, tracks electoral changes to the present, and explores some of the most significant components contributing to partisan change. Supported by a host of detailed tables and figures, this book pairs a strong historical foundation with an in-depth analysis of the contemporary region.
Tremendous transformation marks the last three decades of American politics, and nowhere has this change been as distinctive and penetrating as in the American South. After 120 consecutive years of minority status, the rapid ascendancy of Southern House Republicans in the 1990s has reshaped the contours of contemporary American politics: increasing party polarization, making a Republican House majority possible, and, most recently, contributing to the revival of Democratic fortunes in national congressional elections. Southern Republican ascendancy constitutes an exemplar of party system change, made possible by three sequential factors: increasing Republican identification, redistricting, and the emergence of viable Republican candidates. Relying on existing and original data sources, this text presents the most recent example of large-scale partisan change. Beyond serving as a primer for the study of political parties, campaigns and elections, and Southern politics, Republican Ascendancy in Southern U.S. House Elections provides an original theoretical argument and an expansive view of why political change in the South has such strong implications for national politics.
Redrawing district lines is arguably the most polarizing of political activities in the United States today. As technological developments permit more and more sophisticated statistical analyses, those in charge of the process are more tempted to gerrymander districts for their own future benefit. At the same time, as this data is made available to the public, litigation and calls for transparency intensify. As a bellwether state, Florida offers a unique and fascinating case study to examine the various effects of redistricting. The contributors to this volume examine the issue from the perspectives of both politicians and voters, exploring the process of redistricting as well as the homogenization of districts. They examine new and ongoing controversies, including the creation of disparate pockets of opponents’ voting blocs, by focusing on the massive 2012 boundary changes throughout the state--and the judicial review that called into question their legality on the eve of the 2014 elections.
"I cannot praise the author enough for rising to the challenge of providing students with an accessible trip through time to show the emergence of the one-party South and how the South evolved over time." --Keith Lee, Georgia College Taking a hard look at the changing demographics in the American South, The Dynamics of Southern Politics discusses how this region remains exceptional while also addressing how that exceptionalism is eroding. Author Seth McKee tells a historically rich story going back to the end of the Civil War, tracks electoral changes to the present, and explores some of the most significant components contributing to partisan change. Supported by a host of detailed tables and figures, this book pairs a strong historical foundation with an in-depth analysis of the contemporary region.
The twenty-three essays included in The Oxford Handbook of Southern Politics present a definitive view of the factors that contribute to the South's distinctive politics, examining these factors in the context of the region's political development since World War II.
The latest presidential election demonstrated the national importance of the shifting demographics and partisan leanings of the Southern states. When it first appeared in 1998, The New Politics of the Old South broke new ground by examining Southern political trends at the end of the twentieth century. Now in its fourth edition, with all chapters extensively revised and updated to cover events up through the 2008 elections, the authors continue their unique state-by-state analysis of political behavior. Written by the country's leading scholars of Southern politics and designed to be adopted for courses on Southern politics (but accessible to any interested reader), this book traces the shifting trends of the Southern electorate and explains its growing influence on the course of national politics.
The process and politics of redistricting have become more complicated over the years. This volume addresses that complication through a series of theoretical, historical, and case study essays.
This book examines the past thirty years of American politics, a time of dramatic change in government, as well as the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that pushed a significant group of Democrats away from their party and made Republican candidates and ideas attractive to so many. While its focus is on national events, The book details the emergence of GOP control and the tensions among the distinct factions that compose, and in some ways compromise, the modern Republican party.
"Tremendous transformation marks the last three decades of American politics, and nowhere has this change been as distinctive and penetrating as in the American South. After 120 consecutive years of minority status, the rapid ascendancy of Southern House Republicans in the 1990s has reshaped the contours of contemporary American politics: increasing party polarization, making a Republican House majority possible, and, most recently, contributing to the revival of Democratic fortunes in national congressional elections. Southern Republican ascendancy constitutes an exemplar of party system change, made possible by three sequential factors: increasing Republican identification, redistricting, ...
In 1992, Florida voters approved an amendment to the state’s Constitution creating eight-year term limits for legislators—making Florida the second-largest state, after California, to implement such a law. Eight years later, sixty-eight term-limited senators and representatives were forced to retire, and the state saw the highest number of freshman legislators since the first legislative session in 1845. Proponents view term limits as part of a battle against the rising political class and argue that limits will foster a more honest and creative body with ideal “citizen” legislators. However, in this comprehensive twenty-year study, the first of its kind to examine the effects of ter...