Developments in American Politics DeveloplDents in American Politics Gillian Peele, Christopher J. Bailey, Bruce Cain Editors Macmillan Education ISBN 978-0-333-49438-7 ISBN 978-1-349-22029-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22029-8 Editorial matter and selection © Gillian Peele, Christopher J. Bailey and Bruce Cain 1992 Individual chapters (in order) © Gillian Peele, Bruce Cain, Daniel Hays Lowenstein, Colin Campbell, Christopher J. Bailey, Richard Hodder-Williams, B. Guy Peters, Desmond S. King, Joseph Hogan, Robert X. Browning, Miles Kahler, Stanley E. Collender, Rodolfo O. de la Garza, Morris P. Fiorina 1992 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1992 All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1992 ISBN 978-0-312-076lO-8 (cloth) - ISBN 978-0-312-07609-2 (pbk.) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Developments in American politics / Gillian Peele, Christopher J. Bailey, Bruce Cain. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-076lO-8 (cloth) - ISBN 978-0-312-07609-2 (pbk.) 1. United States-Politics and government-1989- I. Peele, Gillian,1949- . 11. Bailey, Christopher J. III. Cain, Bruce E. E88l.D48 1992 320.973-dc20 91-44872 CIP Contents Preface X List of Contributors Xll List ofTables and Figures XIV List ofA bbreviations XVI Map of the United States ofA merica XVlll Introduetion 1 Part One: The Sourees of Politieal Change 1 Values, Institutions and Poliey Agendas 14 Gillian Peele Political Institutions and American Values 15 Party Divisions and American Values 17 A Value Shift in the 1990s? 20 The Evolution of the Conservative Movement 22 A Revived Liberalism? 27 Political Movements and American Values 29 The Feminist Movement 29 The poverty issue 31 Blacks 33 Conclusions 35 2 The Ameriean Eleetoral System Bruce Cain 37 The Fracturing of the American Electorate 37 Racial and Ethnic Division in the American Electorate 47 Institutional Fracture 55 Conclusion 61 3 Ameriean Politieal Parties 63 Daniel H ays Lowenstein Weakness and Strength 64 The party in the electorate 64 v VI Contents The party in government 65 Party organization 66 Progressive Party Reform 72 Party Renewal 80 Conclusion 84 Part Two: The Governmental System 4 Presidential Leadership Colin Campbell 83 Reagan and the Decline of Policy Competence 90 Managerial Style and Administrative Organization in the White House 94 The Reagan White House 95 The cabinet councils 96 The onset of the 'Regan' administration 99 The Bush Presidency 102 Organizational stress 108 Congressional relations 109 The GulfWar 112 Conclusion 113 5 Congress and Legislative Activism 115 ChristopherJ. Bailey Constituency Attentiveness 117 Emphasis on constituency service 117 The parochial Congress 122 Strengthening Congressional Capacity 126 The increase in resources 127 Strengthening the political parties 129 The Role of Congress 134 6 Constitutional Legitimacy and the Supreme Court Richard Hodder-Williams 138 Introduction 138 The Problems of Divided Partisan Control 140 Interest Groups, Policy Preferences and the Use of the Supreme Court 147 The Reagan Administration and Attempts to Inftuence theJudicial Branch 152 The New Debate over Jurisprudence 156 Conclusion 160 Contents VII 7 Public Bureaucracy in the American Politieal System B. Cuy Peters 165 Strueture and Performance 167 Publie employees 168 Organizations 171 Autonomy 171 Links to the outside 172 The poliey role of the bureaueraey 174 The Reagan Years 177 The personnel system 177 Pay and perquisites 178 The private sector as exemplar 182 U tilizing the private sector 184 A Civil Service for the Year 2000? 185 Morale, reeruitment and retention 185 Hopes for the future 187 Part Three: Publie Poliey 8 The Changing Federal Balanee 190 Desmond S. King Approaehes to Federalism 191 President Reagan and the New Federalism 195 Federal welfare programs 195 Federal grants 196 Reforming federal regulatory poliey 197 Reforming urban poliey 199 Federal housing poliey 201 Tax and economie poliey 202 The New Federalism and the New State Poliey Role 203 State welfare poliey 205 Condusion 207 The empowered states and persistent center 207 lnstitutional ineentives and the New Federalism 208 9 Economie Poliey Joseph Hogan 210 The Institutional Strueture of Eeonomie Poliey-making 211 Postwar Eeonomic Poliey 216 Condusion 225 VllI Contents tO Social Welfare Poliey Robert X. Browning 229 The Nature ofSocial Programs 230 Patterns of Growth 232 Entitling new groups 233 The elderly 236 ln-kind growth 236 The Limits of Reform 238 The Reagan Agenda 240 The social seeurity issue 242 Housing programs 243 lnerease in poverty 244 The Post-Reagan Period 245 Social Poliey in Transition 248 II Ameriean Foreign Poliey Miles Kahler 250 President and Bureaueraey: Conditions for Coherenee 254 Congress and Foreign Poliey: Consolidation or Retreat? 260 Passions and lnterests in Foreign Poliey 267 Publie Opinion and Foreign Poliey 271 The New Polities of Ameriean Foreign Poliey 274 Part Four: Current Issues 12 The Budget Deficit Stanley E. Collender 280 The Legaey of the Reagan Years 280 The numbers tell the story 281 Proeedural and politieal ehanges follow the numbers 283 Challenges for the 1990s 287 Spending 288 Taxes 290 Proeess 290 The Real Legaey of the Reagan Years 291 Stalemates 291 Slow progress on the deficit 292 Limited ability to res pond to new contingencies 292 Hidden taxes 292 Contents ix 13 Civil Rights in the United States Gillian Peele 294 The Reagan Legacy on Civil Rights 295 The Bush Administration and Civil Rights 301 The 1990 and 1991 Civil Rights Acts 305 14 Immigration Reforms: A Mexican-American Perspective Rodolfo o. de la Garza 309 The 1980s: The Decade of the Hispanic 309 Immigration and the Mexican Community 312 1980-1986: The IRCA Debate 316 Conclusion 320 Part Five: Conclusion 15 An Era ofDivided Government 324 Morris P. Fiorina Divided Government in Historical Perspective 325 Explanations of Divided Government 328 Incumbency 332 America is fundamentally a Democratic country 335 Purposeful explanations 338 Summary 345 Consequences of Divided Government 345 Efficiency and effectiveness 346 Responsibility 348 Intellectual challenge 350 Notes to Chapter 15 353 Guide to Further Reading 355 Bibliography 360 Index 385 Preface Developments in American Politics shares with its companion volumes the goal of combining the comprehensiveness of a textbook with the liveliness and contemporary relevance of articles by leading scholars. Thus, although the student or te ach er seeking a single volume treatment of the government and politics of the United States will find Developments in American Politics an accessible introduction to the subject, the volume is also suitable as a supplement to other texts and for use in more advanced classes. The authors are all specialists on their chosen subject areas and are drawn from both sides of the Atlantic. The topics chosen reftect the editors' ambition to provide the reader both with an overview of some of the important scholarly debates about the key trends in American politics and with sufficient background information to understand the nature of those changes. Writing about the United States and using a team of British and American authors presents certain stylistic problems. The editors have decided that spelling should be America nized throughout in order to promote consistency. On the other hand, so me specifically American usages have been excised. Where appropriate the party and state of members of Congress have been included. The references to works cited in the book are collected together at the end of the text. There is also a short guide to further reading for each of the chapters. The editors would like to thank our publisher Steven Kennedy for the help and encouragement he has given with this volume. We are extremely grateful for the secretarial help given by the College Office at Lady Margaret Hall. Pauline Shepheard, Elizabeth Martin, Frances Wilson, and x