Article
Licensed
Unlicensed
Requires Authentication
Polarization, Obstruction, and Governing in the Senate
-
Barry C. Burden
Published/Copyright:
January 3, 2011
Despite achieving a 60-seat majority in the 111th Senate, Democrats were unable to pass many of their key legislative priorities without support from Republicans. The striking inability of Democrats to govern the Senate despite a filibuster-proof majority demonstrates key differences between the chambers of Congress. Whereas party polarization helps the majority party in the House of Representatives to exert more control over the legislative process, in the Senate it aids the minority. Because Republicans viewed the Senate as their main opportunity for hindering the Democratic agenda, the GOP benefitted from their party’s ideological cohesion and rules favoring obstruction.
Published Online: 2011-1-3
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
You are currently not able to access this content.
You are currently not able to access this content.
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Governing through the Senate
- Article
- On Being Second: The U. S. Senate in the Separated System
- Through the Looking Glass, Darkly: What has Become of the Senate?
- Making Laws and Making Points: Senate Governance in an Era of Uncertain Majorities
- Polarization, Obstruction, and Governing in the Senate
- Legislative Coalitions, Polarization, and the U.S. Senate
- Hanging With the Filibuster Pivot
- Senate Delegation Dynamics in an Age of Party Polarization
- The Electoral Risks of Senate Majority Leadership, or How Tom Daschle Lost and Harry Reid Won
- Obstructing Agenda-Setting: Examining Blue Slip Behavior in the Senate
- The Past and Future of the Supermajority Senate
- What the Filibuster Tells Us About the Senate
- Commentary
- Unified Budget Accounting in the United States Congress: The Persistence of Government Deficits and Debt, 1967-2010
- Review
- Review of The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership
- A Response to Joseph Cooper's Review of The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership
- Review of The Myth of Presidential Representation
- Review of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- Governing through the Senate
- Article
- On Being Second: The U. S. Senate in the Separated System
- Through the Looking Glass, Darkly: What has Become of the Senate?
- Making Laws and Making Points: Senate Governance in an Era of Uncertain Majorities
- Polarization, Obstruction, and Governing in the Senate
- Legislative Coalitions, Polarization, and the U.S. Senate
- Hanging With the Filibuster Pivot
- Senate Delegation Dynamics in an Age of Party Polarization
- The Electoral Risks of Senate Majority Leadership, or How Tom Daschle Lost and Harry Reid Won
- Obstructing Agenda-Setting: Examining Blue Slip Behavior in the Senate
- The Past and Future of the Supermajority Senate
- What the Filibuster Tells Us About the Senate
- Commentary
- Unified Budget Accounting in the United States Congress: The Persistence of Government Deficits and Debt, 1967-2010
- Review
- Review of The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership
- A Response to Joseph Cooper's Review of The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership
- Review of The Myth of Presidential Representation
- Review of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us
