Background
Mayhew, David Raymond was born on May 18, 1937 in Putnam, Connecticut, United States. Son of Raymond William and Jeanie (Nicholson) Mayhew.
(In this prize-winning book, which analyzes data from a 44...)
In this prize-winning book, which analyzes data from a 44-year period, Mayhew refutes the commonly held myth that the American national government functions effectively only when one political party controls the presidency and Congress. This edition has a new epilogue covering 1991-1992.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300048378/?tag=2022091-20
( In this second edition to a book that has now achieved ...)
In this second edition to a book that has now achieved canonical status, David R. Mayhew argues that the principal motivation of legislators is reelection and that the pursuit of this goal affects the way they behave and the way that they make public policy. In a new foreword for this edition, R. Douglas Arnold discusses why the book revolutionized the study of Congress and how it has stood the test of time. The book also contains a new preface by the author.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300105878/?tag=2022091-20
(The study of electoral realignments is one of the most in...)
The study of electoral realignments is one of the most influential and intellectually stimulating enterprises undertaken by American political scientists. Realignment theory has been seen as a science able to predict changes, and generations of students, journalists, pundits, and political scientists have been trained to be on the lookout for "signs" of new electoral realignments. Now a major political scientist argues that the essential claims of realignment theory are wrong-that American elections, parties, and policymaking are not (and never were) reconfigured according to the realignment calendar. David Mayhew examines fifteen key empirical claims of realignment theory in detail and shows us why each in turn does not hold up under scrutiny. It is time, he insists, to open the field to new ideas. We might, for example, adopt a more nominalistic, skeptical way of thinking about American elections that highlights contingency, short-term election strategies, and valence issues. Or we might examine such broad topics as bellicosity in early American history, or racial questions in much of our electoral history. But we must move on from an old orthodoxy and failed model of illumination.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300093659/?tag=2022091-20
( In this prize-winning book, a renowned political scient...)
In this prize-winning book, a renowned political scientist debunks the commonly held myth that the American national government functions effectively only when one political party controls the presidency and Congress. For this new edition, David R. Mayhew has provided a new Preface, a new appendix, and a new concluding chapter that brings the historical narrative up to date. Important, accessible, and compelling, David Mayhew’s second edition of Divided We Govern takes the best book on the history of US lawmaking andagainst all oddsmakes it better.”Keith Krehbiel, Stanford University In this welcome updating of his agenda-setting classic, David Mayhew cogently defends his original methodology and finds that divided government remains no less productive of important legislation than unified government, although it is now (thanks mainly to Clinton’s impeachment) strongly associated with prominent investigations of the executive branch. Written with Mayhew’s usual clarity and grace, this is a book to be enjoyed by beginning and veteran students of Congress alike.”Gary Jacobson From reviews of the first edition: "First-rate. . . . Mayhew’s tabulations and analysis are, quite simply, unimpeachable."Morris Fiorina, Washington Monthly "Will stand for years as a classic."L. Sandy Maisel, Political Science Quarterly "Should be read by every student of American politics."Gillian Peele, Times Higher Education Supplement
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300102887/?tag=2022091-20
( With three independent branches, a legislature divided ...)
With three independent branches, a legislature divided into two houses, and many diverse constituencies, it is remarkable that the federal government does not collapse in permanent deadlock. Yet, this system of government has functioned for well over two centuries, even through such heated partisan conflicts as the national health-care showdown and Supreme Court nominations. In Partisan Balance, noted political scholar David Mayhew examines the unique electoral foundations of the presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives in order to provide a fresh understanding for the government's success and longstanding vitality. Focusing on the period after World War II, and the fate of legislative proposals offered by presidents from Harry Truman to George W. Bush, Mayhew reveals that the presidency, Senate, and House rest on surprisingly similar electoral bases, with little difference in their partisan textures as indexed by the presidential popular vote cast in the various constituencies. Both congressional chambers have tilted a bit Republican, and while White House legislative initiatives have fared accordingly, Mayhew shows that presidents have done relatively well in getting their major proposals enacted. Over the long haul, the Senate has not proven much more of a stumbling block than the House. Arguing that the system has developed a self-correcting impulse that leads each branch to pull back when it deviates too much from other branches, Mayhew contends that majoritarianism largely characterizes the American system. The wishes of the majority tend to nudge institutions back toward the median voter, as in the instances of legislative districting, House procedural reforms, and term limits for presidents and legislators.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691157987/?tag=2022091-20
( In this wide-ranging new volume, one of our most import...)
In this wide-ranging new volume, one of our most important and perceptive scholars of the workings of the American government investigates political parties, politicians, elections, and policymaking to discover why public policy emerges in the shape that it does. David R. Mayhew looks at two centuries of policy making—from the Civil War and Reconstruction era through the Progressive era, the New Deal, the Great Society, the Reagan years, and the aspirations of the Clinton and Bush administrations—and offers his original insights on the ever-evolving American policy experience. These fourteen essays were written over the past three decades and collectively showcase Mayhew’s skepticism of the usefulness of political parties as an analytic window into American politics. These writings, which include a new introductory essay, probe beneath the parties to the essentials of the U.S. constitutional system and the impulses and idiosyncrasies of history.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300137621/?tag=2022091-20
( This work on the structure of American parties combines...)
This work on the structure of American parties combines the breadth that has been characteristic of voter analyses and the richness found in case studies of local party organizations. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069107707X/?tag=2022091-20
Mayhew, David Raymond was born on May 18, 1937 in Putnam, Connecticut, United States. Son of Raymond William and Jeanie (Nicholson) Mayhew.
Bachelor, Amherst College, 1958; Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, 1964.
He is the author of eight influential books on American politics, and is widely considered one of the leading scholars on the American Congress. He has also taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Oxford University, and Harvard University. In Congress: The Electoral Connection, Mayhew argued that much of the organization of the United States Congress can be explained as the result of re-election seeking behavior by its members.
The wishes of the majority tend to nudge institutions back toward the median voter.
Mayhew earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University in 1964, and his Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College in 1958. In 2007, Mayhew was elected to the American Philosophical Society, and on April 30, 2013, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
"If a group of planners sat down and tried to design a pair of American national assemblies with the goal of serving members" reelection needs year in and year out, they would be hard pressed to improve on what exists."
"As an expressive institution Congress, in short, is noisy, versatile, and effective."
""Probably half the adverse criticism of Congress by elites is an indirect criticism of the public itself.".
( In this wide-ranging new volume, one of our most import...)
(In this prize-winning book, which analyzes data from a 44...)
( In this prize-winning book, a renowned political scient...)
(Conventional wisdom has assumed that US national governme...)
( With three independent branches, a legislature divided ...)
( This work on the structure of American parties combines...)
(The study of electoral realignments is one of the most in...)
( In this second edition to a book that has now achieved ...)
(Wonderful analysis on the Electoral College and the funct...)
(Book by Mayhew, David R.)
(New copy. Fast shipping. Will be shipped from US.)
In Divided We Govern, he disputed the previously accepted notion that, when Congress and the presidency are controlled by different parties, less important legislation is passed than under unified government. His most recent book, Partisan Balance: Why Political Parties Don"t Kill the United States. Constitutional System (Princeton University Press, 2011), contends that majoritarianism largely characterizes the American system.
Quotations:
"If a group of planners sat down and tried to design a pair of American national assemblies with the goal of serving members" reelection needs year in and year out, they would be hard pressed to improve on what exists."
"As an expressive institution Congress, in short, is noisy, versatile, and effective."
""Probably half the adverse criticism of Congress by elites is an indirect criticism of the public itself.".
Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member American Political Science Association (national council 1976-1978, Conglomerate fellow 1967-1968), American Philosophical Society, Southern Political Science Association, New England Political Science Association.