Product Description

In this second edition to a book that has now achieved canonical status, David R. Mayhew argues that the principal motivation of legislators is reelection and that the pursuit of this goal affects the way they behave and the way that they make public policy. In a new foreword for this edition, R. Douglas Arnold discusses why the book revolutionized the study of Congress and how it has stood the test of time. The book also contains a new preface by the author.

Praise for the earlier edition:

“Any short list of major analyses of Congress must of necessity include David Mayhew’s Congress: The Electoral Connection. It is a pleasure to have this aged-in-the cask classic reissued, and the foreword by Arnold and preface by Mayhew are a valuable bonus.”—Fred Greenstein

• Winner of the Washington Monthly Political Book Award for 1974

David R. Mayhew, Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, is the author of many books, including Divided We Govern, America’s Congress, and Electoral Realignments, all published by Yale University Press.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173100 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Review

About the Author

Customer Reviews

The Bitter Truth About Government
Forget everything you learned in High School civics. David Mayhew utterly demolishes the idea that legislators are engaged in some high-minded pursuit of the "public interest," partisan ideological struggle, or that policies are adopted based on facts or reason. The Ur message of this thoroughly convincing but highly readable tome is that politicians, like the rest of us, pursue their own self interest. That interest is entirely dictated by the determination to get reelected at all costs. Positions are taken, votes are cast, and gestures are made with that first and foremost in mind.

What does that mean? It means that well organized groups of voters (the much maligned but rarely understood "special interest groups") dictate policy. Our founding fathers called these groups "factions" and believed that they were the biggest threat to self government. They were right. Organized groups of politically active voters call the shots, and their agendas rarely comport with the public interest.

Mayhew simply calls it as he sees it. He draws no conclusions, but they should be self evident to the reader. To understand democratic government, one must understand politics. And to understand politics, one simply must read Mayhew.

The book is also relevant beyond the realm of theory. Mayhew casts serious doubt upon the conventional belief that campaign finance reform, term limits, or a host of other proposed reforms will control the power of these factions.

I've working in the public policy world in Washington for over a decade, and everything Mayhew argues comports well with my experience in dealing with elected officials and their staff members. The bitter truth is that neither facts, data, nor reasoned analysis has anything to do with public policy in America.

Even if you disagree with Mayhew, you can't have an informed opinion about politics without grappling with the arguments in this book.

"Congress: The Electoral Connection" is considered by political scientists to be one of the most important books published within their discipline in the past 30 years. They're right; it is an absolute classic and a must read!

Congress The Electoral Connection
The goals of individual congressmen have a significant impact on the quality and power of Congress as an institution. The exact role of Congress is a much debated issue but it can be safely stated that at a minimum, Congress is to make quality public policy, which in aggregate, benefits the nation as a whole. The extent to which this is achieved is in large part dependent on the willingness and ability of Congress as a collection of individual goals and desires to strive toward this end.

David Mayhew assessed that the main goal of congressmen was to gain re-election. In this never ending quest for popular support, the legislative and oversight duties of congressmen takes a back seat to advertising, credit claiming and position taking. In other words, Congress' vast resources are expended in allocating benefits to small constituencies and not toward responsible, cohesive and nationally oriented public policy. Staff and office material are used for keeping in touch with constituents and casework. Committees are platforms for position taking and pork barrel politics. And parties and party leaders focus on doling out favors, setting agendas and protecting the habits and routine of the organization. This results in delay, narrow policies directed at small segments of the population, a tendency to favor the legislative preferences of organized constituencies, especially those with a proven power to deliver money, manpower and votes, and finally symbolism. The end product is poor public policy with little cohesion and direction.

Mayhew's assessment of what drives individual members of Congress could be debated. But his conclusion that the policy making is fragmented and disjointed is difficult to argue with.

A concise look at the driving force in American politics.
Mayhew's book is probably the one that I remember best from graduate school. There's a reason for this: as a political professional I work each day in the context and with the forces that he so concisely describes.

I recommend this book highly both to students American politics and to my colleagues in Washington and in state capitals who are anxious to gain insights that will be useful to them in their efforts to influence and muck up the legislative process.