Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Minority Rights, Majority Rule
  • Cited by 160
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      10 December 2009
      13 June 1997
      ISBN:
      9780511625541
      9780521582391
      9780521587921
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511625541
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.535kg, 256 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.388kg, 256 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Political Theory, Area Studies, American Studies, American Government, Politics and Policy, Politics and International Relations
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Political Theory, Area Studies, American Studies, American Government, Politics and Policy, Politics and International Relations
    Information

    Book description

    Minority Rights, Majority Rule seeks to explain a phenomenon evident to most observers of the US Congress. In the House of Representatives, majority parties rule and minorities are seldom able to influence national policy making. In the Senate, minorities quite often call the shots, empowered by the filibuster to frustrate the majority. Why did the two chambers develop such distinctive legislative styles? Conventional wisdom suggests that differences in the size and workload of the House and Senate led the two chambers to develop very different rules of procedure. Sarah Binder offers an alternative, partisan theory to explain the creation and suppression of minority rights, showing that contests between partisan coalitions have throughout congressional history altered the distribution of procedural rights. Most importantly, new majorities inherit procedural choices made in the past. This institutional dynamic has fuelled the power of partisan majorities in the House but stopped them in their tracks in the Senate.

    Reviews

    "This is an extremely interesting book and one in which the author makes a convincing case for her various positions. It will I am sure, be accepted for a long time as an important contribution to the history of the U.S. Congress, to the study of American Congressional Politics, and to our understanding of institutionalization processes in the United States." Allen G. Bogue, H-Net Reviews

    "Binder's use of history makes the development of minority party rights come alive." Alison D. Howard, LSS Newsletter

    "In an age when partisan politics and congressional gridlock are under attack, Sarah A. Binder's stufy of procedural change in the House of Representatives and the Senate is most timely. Political historians will find this succinct, never overstated study valuable. Scrupulously documented, it is based on a thorough study of congressional sources such as the Congressional Globe and the Congressional Record, as well as works in political science." Donald B. Cole, The Journal of American History

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.