Without ever losing sight of the classics, Kernell and Smith take a fresh look at the implications of political science for our understanding of recent events and trends. This balance of the classic with the contemporary-along with careful editing to retain the flow of original pieces-distinguishes this highly regarded reader. Drawing from a variety of sources and perspectives, readings examine the strategic behavior of key players in American politics. These 44 selections show that political actors, though motivated by their own interests, are governed by the Constitution, the law, and institutional rules, as well as influenced by the strategies of others. Thanks to feedback from adopters, 26 readings are back by popular demand, while 17 new or revised selections offer readable and current analyses, 5 of which have been written specifically for this volume. Kernell and Smith supply helpful headnotes for each reading, establishing important context and rationale for selections

Party Influence in Congress challenges current arguments and evidence about the influence of parties in the U.S. Congress. Political scientists differ in their evaluations of the influence of congressional parties over policy outcomes. Steven S. Smith reviews the arguments and finds them deficient in many respects. In their place, he offers an enriched, more nuanced view of the way parties influence the behavior of legislators and shape legislative outcomes.

Product Description: A core American politics textbook, complete with a range of free teaching ancillaries The American political system is extraordinary and complex. Samuel Kernell and Gary Jacobson help students develop a sophisticated appreciation of the possibilities and limits of American politics...read more

Informed by the authors' Capitol Hill experience and nationally-recognized scholarship, The American Congress presents a crisp introduction to all major features of Congress: its party and committee systems, leadership, and voting and floor activity. Including the most in-depth discussions of the place of the president, the courts, and interest groups in congressional policy-making available in a text, this text blends an emphasis on recent developments in congressional politics with a clear discussion of the rules of the game, the history of key features of Congress, and stories from recent Congresses that bring politics to life.

Product Description: Events in Russia since the late 1980s have created a rare opportunity to watch the birth of democratic institutions close at hand. Here Steven Smith and Thomas Remington provide the first intensive, theoretically grounded examination of the early development of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Federation's parliament created by the 1993 constitution...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Introduces children to the Supreme Court, its justices and how it selects and decides cases.

Providing a comprehensive examination of the origins, development, and status of committees and committee systems in both the House and Senate, this edition carries on the book's tradition of comprehensive coverage, empirical richness, and theoretical relevance in its discussion of these essential and distinguishing features of our national legislature. While the second edition focused on the "post-reform" committee systems, addressed the shifts in the internal distribution of power, and hinted at the forces that had already begun to undermine the power of committees, this edition updates that analysis and looks at the reforms that evolvied under the Republicans. It offers complete coverage of the rules and structural changes to the House and Senate committee systems. It extends its discussion of committee power and influence in the context of the "Contract with America," Republican reforms, and the inter-party warfare on Capitol Hill. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Congress is playing by new rules--a changing distribution of power in Congress, a more complex interplay of rules and procedures and policy, and a new role for floor politics in the legislative process. In Call to Order, Smith outlines how a fairly stable period of reform in the 1950s and the early 1960s erupted into a turbulent period of reform in the 1970s...read more

Explains the ways special rules are used to shape debate and decision making in the House of Representatives

Explains the ways special rules are used to shape debate and decision making in the House of Representatives