Description
Book SynopsisDeadlock and Disillusionment: American Politics Since 1968 is an insightful consideration of the events people, and policy debates that have shaped and continue to influence, even control, the current political era.
- Rejects conventional wisdom that the dominant force shaping recent American politics in the last half century has been the rise of the Right
- Considers the achievements and frustrations of each administration, from Nixon to Obama, in its assessment of contemporary U.S. politics
- Features authorship by an expert scholar in the field who takes a thematic rather than a partisan approach to recent American politics
- Offers a concise, comprehensive, and thoroughly up-to-date synthesis of the literature in the field and concludes with a comprehensive bibliographical essay, an aid to student research
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Introduction: 1968—The End of an Era 1
1 The Politics of Cynicism, 1968–1974 5
The Shaping of a New Majority 7
Conservatism as Reform 16
The Politics of War and Détente 19
Watergate and Its Aftermath 30
2 The Futility of Moderation, 1974–1976 43
The Politics of Forgiveness 44
President as Political Prisoner 48
Détente Derailed 53
3 Dashed Hopes, 1976–1980 60
Fractured Majority 61
Threading the Needle 73
The Abandonment of Idealism 78
4 Dogma and (More) Disappointment, 1980–1988 89
The Rise of the Right 90
Reaganomics 96
Culture Wars and Party Politics 107
Reagan's World 117
5 Squandering the Inheritance, 1988–1992 136
Succession by Hardball 137
The Bills Come Due 144
New World (Dis)Order 153
6 The Deepening Divide, 1992–2000 171
The Illusion of Liberal Revival 172
The Politics of Triangulation 187
Quest for a Post-Cold War Foreign Policy 200
Crises of the Clinton Presidency 212
7 The Politics of Polarization, 2000–2008 221
Ultimate Deadlock: Bush v. Gore 222
The Politics of Anti-terrorism 233
Imagined Mandate 248
The Politics of Certitude 262
8 The Politics of Red and Blue, since 2008 277
The Politics of Hope 279
Government by Dysfunction 296
The Politics of Trench Warfare 315
Conclusion: Deadlock and Disillusionment 328
Bibliographical Essay 335
Index 355
