Dilemmas of Representation
Local Politics, National Factors, and the Home Styles of Modern U.S. Congress Members
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In-depth analysis of the representational styles of several members of Congress from New York State.
Description
While the Congress literature of the 1970s and 1980s led to the dominant impression that all politics is local, in recent years legislative behavior has pointed in more national directions. Dilemmas of Representation comprehensively examines the multifaceted activities of several legislators from New York, one of the country's most diverse states. Legislators still include strong local components in their home styles, but a variety of national factors now contribute notably to an understanding of local politics. This book encourages the reader to think more about the appropriate balance of local and national emphasis in legislator home styles, and also the advantages and disadvantages of the contrasting representational styles used by some contemporary representatives.
Sally Friedman is Associate Professor of Political Science at Rockefeller College, University at Albany, State University of New York.
Reviews
"…a fresh look at representation in an era when national politics have increasingly shaped the relationships between legislators and their constituencies … it furthers our understanding of Congress from the grass roots. " — Political Science Quarterly
"Thoughtfully researched and carefully reasoned. " — CHOICE
"The changes in representational processes in today's highly partisan era require us to rethink much of the conventional wisdom about American political institutions. Friedman weaves this focus throughout the book and addresses the variation that exists in the way members of Congress adjust to these changes. " — Bruce I. Oppenheimer, Vanderbilt University