Books about Realignment from Amazon.com

One of our most influential political scientists shows why realignment theory does not hold up under scrutiny and calls for new ways of thinking about election issues..
Price: $12.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

At the end of the Cold War the People's Republic of China found itself in an international crisis, facing severe problems in both domestic politics and foreign policy. Nearly two decades later, Yong Deng provides an original account of China's remarkable rise from the periphery to the center stage of the post-Cold War world. Deng examines how the once beleaguered country has adapted to, and proactively realigned, the international hierarchy, great-power politics, and its regional and global environment in order to carve out an international path within the globalized world. Creatively engaging with mainstream international relations theories and drawing extensively from original Chinese material, this is a well-grounded assessment of the promises and challenges of China's struggle to manage the interlacing of its domestic and international transitions and the interactive process between its rise and evolving world politics..
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Journalists and the general public have seized upon the notion of "red" and "blue" states to better understand the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, but this conception of political geography is seldom placed in historical perspective. In Electoral Realignment and the Outlook for American Democracy, Arthur Paulson analyzes the impact of ideological polarization on political parties and electoral realignment in the contemporary United States. Recalling the extensive realignment that occurred between 1964 and 1972 (with the contentious 1968 election as its fulcrum) and the three decades of split-ticket voting and "divided government" (most often featuring a Republican president and a Democratic Congress) that followed, Paulson recognizes the resurgence of party-line voting in the last decade. A new, ideologically polarized party system--resembling a responsible party system more than has ever been the case in the American experience--has taken shape. The American polity continues to realign, and Paulson discusses how the forces at work are reshaping the party system in particular and the health of American democracy in general. Although the United States is an "advanced" democracy, he demonstrates the need to view even American democracy as "developing." If American democracy is to thrive, Paulson says, it must change to meet the realities of a rapidly changing world. The realigned system presents challenges to national unity, but it also offers opportunities for debating compelling issues that demand extreme choices, including zero-sum economics in a postindustrial society, globalization and the international economy, development and underdevelopment around the world, and terrorism, war, and peace.

Strong on realignment theory, Paulson's timely and authoritative study incorporates the latest data from the 2000 and 2004 elections into his analysis, and it offers vital perspectives on the outlook for the 2008 election. Scholars and students of the American political system, American government, comparative politics, political theory, electoral politics, and American political culture will embrace this text, which easily lends itself to classroom adoption..
Price: $21.58 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Dynamic Dominion tells the dramatic story of Virginia's political transformation since the Second World War. The cradle of American democracy-and thus of the democratic movement that is sweeping the globe today-the venerable Old Dominion has emerged again in the second half of the 20th century as a dynamic political pacesetter for the nation. Virginia today has become a national bellwether, studied by political analysts and strategists in both parties for clues to the direction of the nation..
Price: $28.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Dynamic Dominion tells the dramatic story of Virginia's political transformation from the Second World War to the Reagan Revolution The cradle of American democracy -- and thus of the democratic movement that is sweeping the globe today -- the venerable Old Dominion has emerged again in the second half of the 20th century as a dynamic political pace setter for the nation. Published in cooperation with the Center for Politics..
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This book brings a fresh understanding to cross-cultural Sino-Indian encounters, elucidating for the first time significant changes in the religous, commerical, and diplomatic interactions between the two countries..
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Are American political parties really in decay? Have American voters really given up on the major parties? Taking issue with widely accepted theories of dealignment and party decay, Paulson argues that the most profound realignment in American history occurred in the 1960s, and he presents an alternative theory of realignment and party revival. In the 1964-1972 period, factional struggles within the major American political parties were resolved, with conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats emerging as the majority factions within their parties. The result was a critical realignment in Presidential elections, in which the decisive realignment involved the movement of white voters in the south toward the Republican coalition. The impression of dealignment came from the fact that electoral change in Congressional elections moved at a much slower rate. The south continued to vote Democratic for congress, usually for incumbent conservative Democrats. The result was an electoral environment which produced divided government. Secular realignment in congressional elections produced the Republican majorities of 1994. Now the conservative Democrats who were the swing voters since the 1960s, were voting Republican. The result is that the coalitions for yet another realignment are in place at the turn of the twenty-first century. After three decades in which the swing voters were relatively conservative, the new swing voter is a genuine centrist; an independent who is ideologically moderate. The coming realignment, Paulson asserts, will consummate the birth of a new, ideologically, polarized party system with a greater potential for party government, which would be a fundamental change for American democracy. A major resource for scholars, students, and other researchers interested in American parties and elections..
Price: $124.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Electoral realignment, referring originally to a major shift in party preference within the general public, has been one of the most successful theories in modern social science Since V.O. Key introduced the theory in the 1950s, it has been the reigning explanation for patterns of electoral behaviour in American history, but it has stimulated a great deal of debate. "The End of Realignment?" provides a forum for differing viewpoints in this debate. Six political scientists and historians question whether the theory of realignment can explain electoral developments both of the post-1968 period and of earlier political eras. The essays alternately challenge and defend realignment. Some argue that the central notion, while historically useful, no longer explains contemporary electoral behaviour. Others argue that the notion is based on comparatively recent history and has been misused to carve American history into grand political eras. Many in both camps agree that depending heavily on realignment to explain electoral politics obscures other influences at work in elections..
Price: $13.92 [Notify me when price goes down.]