Lexington Books
Pages: 160
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-4985-1536-8 • Paperback • March 2015 • $56.99 • (£44.00)
James Wallner is the executive director of the Senate Steering Committee; prior to this, he served as Legislative Director to two U.S. senators. He is also adjunct professor in the department of politics and the Congressional and Presidential Studies Program at the Catholic University of America.
- Introduction
A Broken Senate?A Different Interpretation of GridlockPatterns of Decision-MakingOutline of the Book- A New Theory of Senate Decision-Making
AssumptionsClaimsMeasuring Decision-Making: A Note on Procedure- Decentralized Patterns of Decision-Making
Norm-Based Decision-MakingSenate Norms and Patterned BehaviorParty Leaders in the Norm-Based PatternCollegial Decision-MakingParticipation and Patterned BehaviorParty Leaders in the Collegial Pattern- Centralized Patterns of Senate Decision-Making
Strong Party LeadershipPartisanship and Patterned BehaviorParty Leaders in the Majoritarian PatternBipartisanship and Patterned BehaviorParty Leaders in the Structured Consent Pattern- Passing Controversial Legislation in the Senate
Health Care ReformMethodologyDecision-Making in the 102nd CongressDecision-Making in the 108th CongressDecision-Making in the 110th CongressDecision-Making in the 111th Congress- Raising the Federal Debt Ceiling
A Polarized Political EnvironmentThree PatternsThe Debt Ceiling DebateStructured Consent: Advantages and Limitations- The Death of Deliberation?
References
In this book, James I. Wallner provides a much-needed window into the modern Senate. . . .Wallner is a top Senate staffer and a political scientist. In the proud tradition of participant-observant research, Wallner combines institutional history, data, case studies, and personal experience with a theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of Senate decision making. . . .This book is valuable both for what it reveals and for the research it should provoke.
— Political Science Quarterly
The Death of Deliberation opens up future research opportunities for those interested in the interactions between the two chambers. . . .Professor Wallner provides the reader with a new way of looking at the Senate, and introduces an important nuance for those interested in researching the 'broken Congress.'
— Taylor & Francis Online
The Death of Deliberation is a significant contribution to our understanding of the contemporary Senate; it is provocative and well-argued and provides considerable empirical substantiation for a view counter to the conventional wisdom on the Senate. The author argues that, rather than being gridlocked, the contemporary Senate operates through a mode of decision making he calls structured consent that depends on cooperation between the party leaders; more controversially, he contends that “partisan cooperation or partisan agreement at the leadership level is the most significant characteristic of the contemporary Senate.”
— Barbara Sinclair, professor of political science, University of California, Los Angeles
In this perceptive study, Wallner grapples with the central question about the U.S. Senate today: how does a body with such permissive rules function under conditions of party polarization? Rather than rehash preexisting debates, he offers a new interpretation of the role and function of Senate leaders. In Wallner’s analysis, party leaders—including both the majority and minority party—play a managerial role behind the scenes, leading negotiations and moderating the conflict that always threatens to spiral out of control. Such leaders enable the Senate to function under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. The cost is that important deliberation no longer occurs in public view. Scholars, journalists, and interested citizens will all find much value in Wallner’s study.
— Frances Lee, professor of government and politics, University of Maryland
The U.S. Senate has evolved from "norm-based" through "collegial," "majoritarian," and "structured consent" modes of policymaking during the last half century. This immensely readable book tells that story. Its account is shrewd, surefooted, anchored in experience on Capitol Hill, and convincing. These days, the author argues, the problem isn't really that nothing gets done, it is that the chamber's processes of open deliberation have gotten ragged.
— David R. Mayhew, Sterling Professor of political science, Yale University
In a time of hyper-partisanship, some Senate-watchers have alleged that the institution is broken and cannot be repaired without changes to its fundamental character. In this probing and thoughtful analysis, James Wallner demonstrates that such conclusions are too simplistic, and why the Senate remains highly functional and true to the Framers’ purposes. Concerned citizens will benefit from his scholarship.
— Martin B. Gold