Many studies of Congress hold that congressional leaders are "agents" of their followers, ascertaining what legislators agree on and acting to advance those issues rather than stepping to the forefront to shape national policy or the institution they lead. Randall Strahan has long argued that this approach to understanding leadership is incomplete. Here he demonstrates why and explores the independent contributions leaders make in congressional politics.

Leading Representatives is a study that draws on both historical and contemporary cases to show how leaders in the U.S. House have advanced changes inside Congress and in national policy. Exploring the tactics, tenure, and efficacy of the leadership of three of the most colorful and prominent Speakers of the House—Henry Clay, Thomas Reed, and Newt Gingrich—Strahan finds that these men, though separated in time and of differing thought and actions, were all leaders willing to take political risks to advance goals they cared about deeply. As a result, each acted independently of his followers to alter the political landscape. Strahan makes use of a wide range of resources, including the former representatives' papers and correspondence and interviews with Gingrich and his staffers, to demonstrate how these important leaders influenced policy and politics and where they ran aground.

In expounding lessons Strahan has gleaned over two decades of studying U.S. legislative politics, Leading Representatives offers a new theoretical framework—the conditional agency perspective—that effectively links contextual perspectives as applied to congressional leadership with those emphasizing characteristics of individual leaders. This engagingly written book will be of interest to political scholars of all stripes as well as readers inclined to learn more about the history and inner workings of the House.

Politics is at its most dramatic during debates over important pieces of legislation. It is thus no stretch to refer to legislation as a living, breathing force in American politics. And while debates over legislative measures begin before an item is enacted, they also endure long afterward, when the political legacy of a law becomes clear.   Living Legislation provides fresh insights into contemporary American politics and public policy. Of particular interest to the contributors to this volume is the question of why some laws stand the test of time while others are eliminated, replaced, or significantly amended. Among the topics the essays discuss are how laws emerge from—and effect change within—coalition structures, the effectiveness of laws at mediating partisan conflicts, and the ways in which laws interact with broader shifts in the political environment. As an essential addition to the study of politics, Living Legislation enhances understanding of democracy, governance, and power.

Syncretism - the synthesis of different religious - is a contentious word. Some regard it as a pejorative term, referring to local versions of notionally standard `world religions' which are deemed `inauthentic' because saturated with indigenous content. Syncretic versions of Christianity do not conform to `official' (read `European') models. In other contexts however, the syncretic amalgamation of religions may be validated as a mode of resistance to colonial hegemony, a sign of cultural survival, or as a means of authorising political dominance in a multicultural state.
In Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism the contributors explore the issues of agency and power which are integral to the very process of syncretism and to the competing discourses surrounding the term.

Politics is at its most dramatic during debates over important pieces of legislation. It is thus no stretch to refer to legislation as a living, breathing force in American politics. And while debates over legislative measures begin before an item is enacted, they also endure long afterward, when the political legacy of a law becomes clear.   Living Legislation provides fresh insights into contemporary American politics and public policy. Of particular interest to the contributors to this volume is the question of why some laws stand the test of time while others are eliminated, replaced, or significantly amended. Among the topics the essays discuss are how laws emerge from—and effect change within—coalition structures, the effectiveness of laws at mediating partisan conflicts, and the ways in which laws interact with broader shifts in the political environment. As an essential addition to the study of politics, Living Legislation enhances understanding of democracy, governance, and power.

Policymaking in the realm of elections is too often grounded in anecdotes and opinions, rather than in good data and scientific research. To remedy this, The Measure of American Elections brings together a dozen leading scholars to examine the performance of elections across the United States, using a data-driven perspective. This book represents a transformation in debates about election reform, away from partisan and ideological posturing, toward using scientific analysis to evaluate the conduct of contemporary elections. The authors harness the power of newly available data to document all aspects of election administration, ranging from the registration of voters to the counting of ballots. They demonstrate what can be learned from giving serious attention to data, measurement, and objective analysis of American elections.

A Resurrection of the Republican Ideal offers a unique perspective on governmental reform. Employing traditional philosophies and principles that have largely been forgotten, Goodwin proposes methodologies that are designed to increase citizen participation in this country by redirecting power and funding away from a governmental center and toward localities. Contents: PRECEDENT AND POSSIBILITY; Republican Questions Set the Stage; Historical Perspectives; Government and the Individual; The Alternate Contract Spectre; Extreme Dangers; PHILOSOPHIES FOR IMPROVEMENT; Montesquieu's Theory of Small Republics; Vaclav Havel's Politics of Conscience; Inspiration from the Iroquois Confederacy; AN AMBIANCE FOR GOVERNING; Defining the Solution; Where the Grass Roots Begin; Localism in Action; A Small Republic Example; Grappling with the Issues; Selecting Representatives; WIDENING THE SCOPE; Hemispheric Implications; Pipe Dream or Possibility.

The Politics of Major Policy Reform in Postwar America examines the politics of recent landmark policy in areas such as homeland security, civil rights, health care, immigration and trade, and it does so within a broad theoretical and historical context. By considering the politics of major programmatic reforms in the United States since the Second World War - specifically, courses of action aimed at dealing with perceived public problems - a group of distinguished scholars sheds light not only on significant efforts to ameliorate widely recognized ills in domestic and foreign affairs but also on systemic developments in American politics and government. In sum, this volume provides a comprehensive understanding of how major policy breakthroughs are achieved, stifled, or compromised in a political system conventionally understood as resistant to major change.

From 1789 to 1913, U.S. senators were not directly elected by the people—instead the Constitution mandated that they be chosen by state legislators. This radically changed in 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving the public a direct vote. Electing the Senate investigates the electoral connections among constituents, state legislators, political parties, and U.S. senators during the age of indirect elections. Wendy Schiller and Charles Stewart find that even though parties controlled the partisan affiliation of the winning candidate for Senate, they had much less control over the universe of candidates who competed for votes in Senate elections and the parties did not always succeed in resolving internal conflict among their rank and file. Party politics, money, and personal ambition dominated the election process, in a system originally designed to insulate the Senate from public pressure.

Electing the Senate uses an original data set of all the roll call votes cast by state legislators for U.S. senators from 1871 to 1913 and all state legislators who served during this time. Newspaper and biographical accounts uncover vivid stories of the political maneuvering, corruption, and partisanship—played out by elite political actors, from elected officials, to party machine bosses, to wealthy business owners—that dominated the indirect Senate elections process. Electing the Senate raises important questions about the effectiveness of Constitutional reforms, such as the Seventeenth Amendment, that promised to produce a more responsive and accountable government.

Dire Emotions and Lethal Behaviours explores the primary motivational system in human beings. Based on the work of C. G. Jung, James Hillman, Louis Stewart and Silvan Tomkins, Charles Stewart investigates the psychology of the innate affects, with a focus towards the emotional motivation of adolescents and young adults who have killed others, themselves, or both.

It is suggested that social isolation, dissociation of the personality, unbearable emotions, and possession by affects are necessary conditions for both homicide and suicide. Stewart argues that these conditions result from deep-seated emotional psychopathology which involves both the positive affects of the life instinct - Interest and Joy, and the crisis affects  - Fear, Anguish, Anger, and Shame/Contempt.

Illustrated throughout with case studies of individuals who have committed homicide, suicide, or both, Dire Emotions and Lethal Behaviours aims to discover the emotional motivations for such behaviours so that through education and psychological treatment, such tragic outcomes can be prevented. This book will be of interest to professionals and students in the fields of mental health and criminal justice.