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The End of the Republican Era (Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture Series)

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Published approximately a decade ago, this book by the distinguished political scientist Theodore Lowi is an insightful analysis of American politics during the era of conservative Republican predominance. In several respects, this is a sequel to Lowi's well known book, The End of Liberalism. The latter was a structural analysis of politics and government during the period roughly from the New Deal to the fall of Nixon. The End of the Republican Era aims to do the same for the period of Republican predominance that begins with Reagan. Lowi opens with a schematic summary of the structure of American politics and government up to the New Deal, and then offers a brief reprise of his analysis in The End of Liberalism. As in the latter book, Lowi describes liberalism as failing because of its own great success in expanding the role of government, especially the role of the professional adminisrators in the executive branch. This is followed by a superb, concise history and analysis of the development of the American conservative movement in the 20th century. These chapters alone are a good reason to read this book. Lowi then proceeds to define the essential structural features of the conservative coalition and Republican governance. Many of these features, for example the emphasis on Presidential power and the reliance on the military as a primary instrument of foreign policy, will be easily recognized in the present Bush II administration. Lowi goes on to predict that the fissiparous Republican coalition would choke on its own success as its evangelical (true conservatives in Lowi's classification) and business wings (19th century or Old Liberal in Lowi's classification) fall apart because of fundamental incompatibility. Lowi clearly expected this to occur by the end of the 1990s, though if Bush II had lost the 2000 election, who knows what would happened. On the other hand, it does appear that Lowi's prediction is now coming true.