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The Great Broadening

How the Vast Expansion of the Policymaking Agenda Transformed American Politics

The Great Broadening

How the Vast Expansion of the Policymaking Agenda Transformed American Politics

Beginning in the late 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, the United States experienced a vast expansion in national policy making. During this period, the federal government extended its scope into policy arenas previously left to civil society or state and local governments.

With The Great Broadening, Bryan D. Jones, Sean M. Theriault, and Michelle Whyman examine in detail the causes, internal dynamics, and consequences of this extended burst of activity. They argue that the broadening of government responsibilities into new policy areas such as health care, civil rights, and gender issues and the increasing depth of existing government programs explain many of the changes in America politics since the 1970s. Increasing government attention to particular issues was motivated by activist groups. In turn, the beneficiaries of the government policies that resulted became supporters of the government’s activity, leading to the broad acceptance of its role. This broadening and deepening of government, however, produced a reaction as groups critical of its activities organized to resist and roll back its growth.
 

328 pages | 90 line drawings, 4 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2019

Political Science: American Government and Politics

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1: The Great Broadening

Part 1: The Internal Dynamics of the Great Broadening

Chapter 2: Crossing the Legitimacy Barrier
Chapter 3: Arcs and Plateaus
Chapter 4: Dynamics of the Great Broadening

Part 2: Causes of the Great Broadening

Chapter 5: Causes of the Great Broadening: Conventional Explanations
Chapter 6: Causes of the Great Broadening: The Role of Social Movements
Chapter 7: Feedback Politics

Part 3: Consequences of the Great Broadening

Chapter 8: Transformation of US Law: Broadening and Then Thickening
Chapter 9: The Administrative State and Its Legislative Oversight
Chapter 10: Polarization in Congress: A Macro-Level Analysis
 
Appendix: Granger Causality

Chapter 11: Microstory of Polarization in Congress
Chapter 12: The Interest-Group System
 
Appendix

Chapter 13: Politics of Conservative Reaction
Chapter 14: Extreme Events, Feedback Policy-Making, and American Politics
 
Notes
List of References

Awards

APSA Legislative Studies Section: Richard F. Fenno Jr. Prize
Won

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