Article
Congress as a Handler of Challenges: The Historical Record
Studies in American Political Development
(2015)
Abstract
Can the U.S. Congress address major challenges? Can Congress govern? Questions like these keep getting asked. This article addresses them by consulting the record since 1789. Given the separation-of-powers structure of the American system, such questions cannot be addressed directly. They need to be deconstructed. The presidency needs to enter the discussion, too. Also, what is a major challenge? To identify such challenges, and to supply a way of seeing how and in what respects Congress, as well as in a background frame the U.S. system more broadly, has performed, I draw on comparative analysis. How has the United States participated in thirteen major “impulses” that have invested a comparable set of nations at various times since the late eighteenth century? These challenges range from launching a new nation through building a welfare state through dealing with climate change and debt/deficit problems today.
Keywords
- Political Science,
- Congress,
- Impulses,
- American Political Development
Disciplines
Publication Date
January 10, 2015
DOI
10.1017/S0898588X15000061
Citation Information
David R. Mayhew. "Congress as a Handler of Challenges: The Historical Record" Studies in American Political Development Vol. 29 Iss. 2 (2015) p. 185 - 212 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/david-mayhew/10/