Matthew N. Green provides the first comprehensive analysis of how the Speaker of the House has exercised legislative leadership from 1940 to the present. Green finds that the Speaker’s party loyalty is tempered by a host of competing objectives, including reelection, passage of desired public policy laws, handling the interests of the president, and meeting the demands of the House as a whole.
The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership
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Review
This book is an outstanding contribution to the literature that is simultaneously theoretically driven and grounded in empirical data, providing considerable insight into the behavior of House Speakers. --Choice, 2010 Outstanding Academic Title
It combines a deft consideration of the history of the office of the Speaker with a rich discussion of specific instances of legislative leadership. --Cindy Simon Rosenthal, Legislative Studies Section Newsletter
Anyone interested in legislative leadership should read this book. -- Congress and the Presidency
The Speaker of the House has many virtues, foremost among them that it faithfully depicts the real-world complexities that are the hallmark of decision making in the Speaker's office. -- Matthew Beckmann, Perspectives on Politics
It combines a deft consideration of the history of the office of the Speaker with a rich discussion of specific instances of legislative leadership. --Cindy Simon Rosenthal, Legislative Studies Section Newsletter
Anyone interested in legislative leadership should read this book. -- Congress and the Presidency
The Speaker of the House has many virtues, foremost among them that it faithfully depicts the real-world complexities that are the hallmark of decision making in the Speaker's office. -- Matthew Beckmann, Perspectives on Politics
". . . a very fine book. Anyone interested in legislative leadership should read this book."—David T. Canon, Congress & the Presidency
(David T. Canon Congress & the Presidency ) Finalist for the 2013 D. B. Hardeman Prize, given by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation.
(2013 D. B. Hardeman Prize Finalist Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation 20130205)
From the Back Cover
This book represents a major advance in the study of congressional leadership, both in terms of the extensive new evidence Green has collected on what modern House speakers have actually done to influence legislation, and the theory he has developed which takes us beyond viewing congressional leaders as passive agents of legislative majorities. -- Randall Strahan, Emory University
An illuminating approach to questions of congressional leadership. The author integrates innovative new analysis of the Speaker's legislative activities and the best secondary literature in a creative fashion. This book should be required reading for scholars of American politics and in courses that emphasize the role of congressional leadership. -- C. Lawrence Evans, College of William and Mary
A rare accomplishment. The author does impressive and novel work. -- David Mayhew, Yale University --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
An illuminating approach to questions of congressional leadership. The author integrates innovative new analysis of the Speaker's legislative activities and the best secondary literature in a creative fashion. This book should be required reading for scholars of American politics and in courses that emphasize the role of congressional leadership. -- C. Lawrence Evans, College of William and Mary
A rare accomplishment. The author does impressive and novel work. -- David Mayhew, Yale University --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.
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More About the Author
Matthew Green is an assistant professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Originally from northern California, Professor Green worked as a congressional aide for five years before getting his Ph.D in political science at Yale University. He teaches a variety of courses on American politics, but he has a particular passion for Congress.
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Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Most studies of the Speaker of the House either examine one speaker at a time (in biography fashion, looking at Clay, Rayburn, O'Neill, Gingrich, etc.) or offer overly abstract theories of Speaker behavior. Rarely is the Speaker's legislative leadership examined with both historical sensitivity *and* theoretical rigor. Matthew N. Green's book does both with great success. In this sense, it is truly a breath of fresh air and a welcome contribution to the literature on Congress.
Green treats Speakers of the House as agents in the true sense of the word: they're not just automatons who are responsive to their party caucus (as leading theories would have us believe) -- they're purposive and strategic actors who seek to fulfill multiple goals simultaneously, who act creatively, and who influence policy outcomes. Their goals include their own reelection (to the speakership and to the House), the enactment of their preferred policies, and the fulfillment of various Speaker-related roles and duties. They can't always satisfy their multiple goals, but with voluminous research of primary and secondary materials, Green convincingly demonstrates that they consistently try. Showing this is, by itself, an important accomplishment. But the book also goes on to detail many other significant findings, including changes in leadership patterns over time (for example, floor advocacy by the Speaker has become more common over the years) and variation in the tactics employed and in the effects of leadership acts. Throughout, Green brings fascinating new evidence to bear.
To be sure, this book is first and foremost a work of scholarly political science -- it is a theoretically sophisticated and carefully developed study -- but it is also a well-written and easily accessible text that all political junkies will find interesting. It's a must-read for anyone interested in Congress, the behavior of the Speaker, and the dynamics of legislative leadership more generally.
Green treats Speakers of the House as agents in the true sense of the word: they're not just automatons who are responsive to their party caucus (as leading theories would have us believe) -- they're purposive and strategic actors who seek to fulfill multiple goals simultaneously, who act creatively, and who influence policy outcomes. Their goals include their own reelection (to the speakership and to the House), the enactment of their preferred policies, and the fulfillment of various Speaker-related roles and duties. They can't always satisfy their multiple goals, but with voluminous research of primary and secondary materials, Green convincingly demonstrates that they consistently try. Showing this is, by itself, an important accomplishment. But the book also goes on to detail many other significant findings, including changes in leadership patterns over time (for example, floor advocacy by the Speaker has become more common over the years) and variation in the tactics employed and in the effects of leadership acts. Throughout, Green brings fascinating new evidence to bear.
To be sure, this book is first and foremost a work of scholarly political science -- it is a theoretically sophisticated and carefully developed study -- but it is also a well-written and easily accessible text that all political junkies will find interesting. It's a must-read for anyone interested in Congress, the behavior of the Speaker, and the dynamics of legislative leadership more generally.
