James M. Glaser - American Politics, Political Behavior
Race, Campaign Politics, and the Realignment in the South
Synopsis:
Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, growing numbers of southerners
have called themselves Republicans, and Republican candidates have
carried the South in presidential elections. Yet the Democratic party
has persisted in winning the southern congressional elections. In this
engagingly written book, James M. Glaser explains this political
phenomenon, investigating six special U.S. House elections won by
Democrats from 1981 to 1993 in Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and
Virginia. Glaser draws upon his own direct observations, news reports,
and extensive interviews with election participants- candidates,
advisors, journalists, labor leaders, party officials, black
ministers, volunteers, and others- to demonstrate that the issues of
group conflict and race continue to have an enormous impact on
congressional politics in the South. According to Glaser, southern
Democrats have prolonged realignment and kept control of local
elections through a variety of tactics. Most important, southern
Democrats have been able to construct biracial coalitions in an
ever-changing political environment. Glaser's analysis offers insight
into what led Democrats to ve so unexpectedly successful in the
Reagan-Bush years and into what they must do if they are to survive
the increasingly powerful force of southern Republicanism.
Back to Prof. Glaser's bio page.
|
