Ideas Of Power: The Politics Of American Party Ideology Development

221 Pages·2019·1.324 MB·English

by  Verlan Lewis

Ideas of Power
This groundbreaking book challenges the dominant view of ideology
heldbybothpoliticalscientistsandpoliticalcommentators.Ratherthan
viewingideologicalconstructslikeliberalismandconservatismasstatic
concepts with fixed and enduring content, Professor Verlan Lewis
explains how the very meanings of liberalism and conservatism fre-
quently change along with the ideologies of the two major parties in
American politics. Testing a new theory to help explain why party
ideologies evolve the way that they do, this book traces the history of
AmericanpoliticalpartiesfromtheHamiltonianFederalistsandJeffer-
sonianRepublicansofthe1790stotheliberalDemocratsandconserva-
tiveRepublicansoftoday.IdeasofPowershowsushowchangingparty
control of government institutions, such as Congress, the presidency,
andtheSupremeCourt,influenceshowpartyideologiesdevelop.
Verlan Lewis is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Political
Science at Stanford University. His research focuses on how political
institutionsandideasinteractovertime,andhisworkhasappearedina
variety of publications, including Studies in American Political Devel-
opment,PresidentialStudiesQuarterly,TheForum,andTheWashing-
tonPost.

Ideas of Power
The Politics of American Party Ideology
Development
VERLAN LEWIS
StanfordUniversity
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:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversity
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Contents
List of Figures pageix
List of Tables xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
1 The Liberal Conservative Myth and Political Science 1
2 APoliticalTheoryofAmericanPartyIdeologyDevelopment 25
3 The Presidency and PartyTheories of Foreign Intervention 49
4 Unified Governmentand PartyTheories of Economic
Intervention 81
5 The Supreme Court and Party Theories ofJudicial
Intervention 130
6 Politics, History, and American Party Ideology
Development 167
Appendix 1: Percentage ofRespondentsExpressinga More
Interventionist Attitude on Foreign Policy, 1948–2016 173
Appendix 2: Levelof EconomicInterventionism inMajor Party
Platforms, 1920–2016 175
Appendix 3: Partisan Composition of the USSupreme Court,
1789–2019 177
Bibliography 183
Index 199
vii

Figures
1.1 Party ideology development since 1879 using
DW-NOMINATEscores page 13
2.1 Change in party control of institutions leads tochange
inparty ideologies 33
2.2 Ingredients for party ideologychange 40
3.1 Differences between Republican and Democratic levelsof
foreign interventionism, 1948–2016 72
ix