David W. Brady is professor of political science and business at Stanford University.
Volden, Craig : Claremont Graduate University
Craig Volden is assistant professor of political science and public policy at the Claremont Graduate University.
Review
"This is an important book that should receive wide circulation among people interested in U.S. politics
and policymaking.... Strongly recommended."
--Perspectives on Political Science
"Brady and Volden posit an innovative theoretical argument to account for the persistence of legislative gridlock
in the U.S.... Recommended."
--Choice
"Brady and Volden rise above personalities, special interests, and other journalistic obsessions and provide
a persuasive institutional account of the fundamental factors that determine policy outcomes in the United States."
--Morris Fiorina, Harvard University
"The main substantive point is that gridlock depends less on whether government is divided or unified than
on how the distribution of opinion in congress determined what policies can be advanced in opposition to possible
threats of senate filibuster and presidential veto.... The theoretical chapter is innovative and clearly written,
and it should be intelligible to a broad audience that includes undergraduates."
--David G. Lawrence, Fordham University
"Brady and Volden propose and defend an important new theory of congressional behavior and-more fundamentally-of
the relationship among elections, institutional interactions and public policy."
--L. Sandy Maisel, Colby College
"A first-rate book about Congress, the executive, and public policy making!
It is provocative for the trained political scientist and graduate student for its parsimonious articulation of
a useful theory and its actual implementation of that framework in interpreting the real congressional policy making
world.
It is a good book for undergraduate classes in politics and public policy because the theory is accessible, very
relevant, and the contemporary historical examples bring life to the interpretation."
--Carl F. Pinkele, Ohio Wesleyan University
"Revolving Gridlock is a skillful blend of theory and evidence. Brady and Volden show how in the 1980's a
single issue-the budget deficit-not only cast its shadow across all other areas of national policy making, but
fundamentally reshaped much of American politics as well. This book is essential to understanding the current state
of legislative politics and interbranch relations in our separation of powers system."
--David Epstein, Columbia University
Perseus Books Group Web Site, March, 2000
Summary
Since the elections of 1994 and the return of divided government, we are once again hearing a lot of complaints
about government gridlock. Here, political scientists David Brady and Craig Volden demonstrate that gridlock is
not a product of divided government, party politics, or any of the usual scapegoats. It is, instead, an instrumental
part of American government-built into our institutions and sustained by leaders acting rationally not only to
achieve set goals but to thwart foolish inadvertencies. Looking at key legislative issues from the Reagan, Bush,
and Clinton administrations, the authors clearly and carefully analyze important crux points in lawmaking: the
swing votes, the veto, the filibuster. They show that when it comes to government gridlock, it doesn't matter who's
in the White House or who's in control of Congress; it's as American as apple pie, and its results may ultimately
be as sweet in ensuring system stability and democracy.
Table of Contents
The Origins of Revolving Gridlock
Theoretical Foundations
The Rise of Reagan and Budgetary Politics
Reagan's Last Years and the Bush Interregnum
Unified Gridlock
The Republican Congress
Conclusion
