Torn and Frayed Congressional Norms and Party Switching in an Era of Reform

Subjects:

• Political Science » American Politics/Government
• Political Science » Political History
• Political Science » Political Science (General)

Reviews:

• Choate's book is a careful treatise that sticks close to the literature describing the establishment of norms of behavior for members of Congress over the 19th and 20th centuries, and the partial unraveling of these norms in the harsh partisan climate of the last three decades....Recommended. Undergraduates and above.
  —Choice June 2004
• [T]his is a well-constructed study that properly centers its analysis on the attitudes of House members. In a field that sometimes tends to view the House primarily through highly stylized theoretical lenses, Choate's calls for increasingly tapping members as a resource and a greater behavioral focus are well taken....[t]his book will undoubtedly lead its readers to reconsider the importance of congressional norms, For this alone, it is well worth reading.
  —Political Science Quarterly Fall 2004

Table of Contents:

• An Examination of Congressional Norms
• Project and Methods
• Norms in the House: A Historical Examination
• Challenging the Norms: 104th Congress
• Party Switching in an Institutionalized Congress
• Stability of the Norms: 104th Congress
• Conclusion and Speculation
• List of References