Underdog Politics: The Minority Party in the U.S. House of Representatives

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Yale University Press, Jan 28, 2015 - Political Science - 288 pages
In the first comprehensive study of the subject in decades, political scholar Matthew Green disputes the conventional belief that the minority party in the U.S. House of Representatives is an unimportant political player. Examining the record of the House minority party from 1970 to the present, and drawing from a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data, Green shows how and why the minority seeks to influence legislative and political outcomes and demonstrates that the party’s efforts can succeed. The result is a fascinating appreciation of what the House minority can do and why it does it, providing readers with new insights into the workings of this famously contentious legislative chamber.
 

Contents

The Politics of the Minority Party
1
Electioneering
34
Messaging
71
Obstructing
113
Legislating
142
The Minority Party and American Politics
179
Notes
191
Bibliography
237
Index
267
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About the author (2015)

Matthew N. Green is associate professor of politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies.

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