This book challenges dominant theories of regulatory politics by placing presidential elections and national party leaders at the center of American regulatory state development. In the years between 1884 and 1936, the Democratic party abandoned its traditional regulatory agenda to enact the programs of voting blocs deemed pivotal to the consolidation of national party power. Coalition-building imperatives drove the decision-making calculus of Democratic leaders, prompting legislative intervention to secure outcomes consistent with national party needs. In the end, Democratic choices proved consequential for the character of the American regulatory state. The Democratic party turned its governing power to the build-up of national administrative power and the consolidation of corporate capitalism.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Scott James combines impeccable historiography with first-rate political analysis to discover the brass ring of turn of the century American congressional politics--winning control of the presidency. This thoroughly political, highly strategic account offers a convincing rationale for understanding this critical era of America's political development." Samuel Kernell, University of California, San Diego
"...sensitivity to contingency makes James' study excellent history as well as important political science...It is this careful attention to historical context and individual action that makes this fresh "perspective" on policy history so valuable in comparison with more rigid institutionalist and rational-choice approaches to the subject." James J. Connelly, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"James resolves a great paradox in American state development, explaining why a rabidly anti-state party chose to use its moments in power to help build the state. His analysis of strategic imperatives facing the Democrats in the presidential elections of the industrial era opens onto a synthetic reinterpretation of considerable range and power." Stephen Skowronek, Yale University
"In Presidents, Parties and the State, Scott James offers a fresh, original, and convincing account of the development of some of the central parts of the progressive regulatory project. Neither a group-based nor new institutional account can adequately explain the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act, the creation of the Federal Trade Commission, or the politics of the Public Utility Holding Companies Act. Instead, a party systems perspective is needed, one that focuses on the attempt to form and hold national majorities, one that gives agency and leadership to the president, and one that, along the way, explains major changes of direction in party politics. It is an achievement to be able to say something so bold and persuasive about so important -- and heavily studied -- a period." John H. Aldrich, Duke University
"...sensitivity to contingency makes James' study excellent history as well as important political science...It is this careful attention to historical context and individual action that makes this fresh "perspective" on policy history so valuable in comparison with more rigid institutionalist and rational-choice approaches to the subject." James J. Connelly, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"James resolves a great paradox in American state development, explaining why a rabidly anti-state party chose to use its moments in power to help build the state. His analysis of strategic imperatives facing the Democrats in the presidential elections of the industrial era opens onto a synthetic reinterpretation of considerable range and power." Stephen Skowronek, Yale University
"In Presidents, Parties and the State, Scott James offers a fresh, original, and convincing account of the development of some of the central parts of the progressive regulatory project. Neither a group-based nor new institutional account can adequately explain the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act, the creation of the Federal Trade Commission, or the politics of the Public Utility Holding Companies Act. Instead, a party systems perspective is needed, one that focuses on the attempt to form and hold national majorities, one that gives agency and leadership to the president, and one that, along the way, explains major changes of direction in party politics. It is an achievement to be able to say something so bold and persuasive about so important -- and heavily studied -- a period." John H. Aldrich, Duke University
Book Description
Dominant theories of regulatory choice privilege the goals and actions of district-oriented legislators and organized groups. Presidents, Parties, and the State challenges this frame, placing presidential elections and national party leaders at the center of American regulatory state development. Historically the "out-party" in national politics, the Democratic party of Cleveland, Wilson, and Roosevelt confronted a political quandary which pit long-term ideological commitments against short-term electoral opportunities. In the end, the Democratic choice to consolidate power by legislating the programs of pivotal voting blocs proved consequential for the trajectory of American state development.
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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national power policy, railroad capital, terminal centers, sectional competition, antitrust politics, democratic bill, regulatory commission bill, regulatory state development, party system constraints, regulatory commission idea, national railroad commission, trade commission idea, national party goals, presidential party leadership, trade commission bill, antipooling provision, same original point, such common carrier, antitrust program, national party interests, legislative party leaders, interstate trade commission, compulsory dissolution, antitrust reform, haul provision Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Select Committee, Sherman Act, Woodrow Wilson, White House, New Deal, Commerce Committee, Congressional Record, Grover Cleveland, Interstate Commerce, Rules Committee, Theodore Roosevelt, Supreme Court, The Commoner, Franklin Roosevelt, Gilded Age, Forty-Ninth Congress, House of Representatives, Forty-eighth Congress, New American State, Clayton Act, Power Trust, State Table, Senate Democrats New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
national power policy, railroad capital, terminal centers, sectional competition, antitrust politics, democratic bill, regulatory commission bill, regulatory state development, party system constraints, regulatory commission idea, national railroad commission, trade commission idea, national party goals, presidential party leadership, trade commission bill, antipooling provision, same original point, such common carrier, antitrust program, national party interests, legislative party leaders, interstate trade commission, compulsory dissolution, antitrust reform, haul provision Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Select Committee, Sherman Act, Woodrow Wilson, White House, New Deal, Commerce Committee, Congressional Record, Grover Cleveland, Interstate Commerce, Rules Committee, Theodore Roosevelt, Supreme Court, The Commoner, Franklin Roosevelt, Gilded Age, Forty-Ninth Congress, House of Representatives, Forty-eighth Congress, New American State, Clayton Act, Power Trust, State Table, Senate Democrats New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
4
books
cite this book:
- Presidents, Parties, and the State: A Party System Perspective on Democratic Regulatory Choice, 1884-1936 by Scott C. James in Front Matter, page 182, and page 218
- The Search for American Political Development by Karen Orren in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Social And Political Thought of American Progressivism (American Heritage Series) by Eldon J. Eisenach on page 70
- The Formation of National Party Systems: Federalism and Party Competition in Canada, Great Britain, India, and the United States by Pradeep Chhibber in Back Matter
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