In the evolution of the American political system and its Congress, the role party leaders have played has been important and at the same time relatively inconsistent. There have been several events that have come about since the creation of the United States Congress that have led to the inability of party leaders to maintain and utilize their political powers effectively. I will start by examining several events through the course of history that helped set up this these shifts in power over the last half century. We will also need to understand the roles that Congressional committee’s played in the evolution of this power and their effect on party leaders. Next, an explanation of why political parties became weak for time period in the middle of the 20th century will set up the basis of reasoning for the question why political party leaders in Congress became increasingly strong in the 1990’s? Finally, breaking down the party leadership structure and analyzing two congressional leadership theories will ultimately help present a normative assessment of the amount power that should be invested in party leaders.
When discussing the reasons for change in the powers of party leaders over the past half century, in order to fu
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In this period Congress made some developments that increased their power and efficiency. So the overall power of Congress was diminished and the party leaders’ power was weak, making the Congress a repressed organization. These revisions were the start of the shift of power from the committee’s back to the congressional party leaders. I believe that it is easier for people to understand and follow an individual in Congress because generally you have a good idea of what they stand for and if that runs parallel with that you believe. Most importantly amongst these changes was a change in the membership. The same goes with disagreement between parties, if you have a leader that has proven himself and has respected the opposition it is possible that he could close the gap in a disagreement between parties. This movement by Newt Gingrich was the most significant positive change for the party leaders in their competition to regain power in Congress. Many Republicans became angry with Joe Cannon because he was blocking all progressive legislation and decided to join the democrats and stripped Cannon of his powers. How so? Well congress created three main institutional maintenance structures; the Rules committee, Ways and Means committee, and the Appropriations committee. The advantage of this is that the party leaders possess a great deal more power in the House. If the member of Congress is constantly acting indecent of the party and as an individual it is very difficult to have any distinct party leadership. However, Mayhew believed that engaging in this strategy leads to problems for Congress as an institution. If you tie this in with the fact that members of congress are focusing more on the functions of serving the needs of the constituents and expressing public opinion because there is a direct payout and become less focused on making policy and overseeing the bureaucracy, which are two of the main functions of Congress, because that involves collective responsibility.
Approximate Word count =
2585
Approximate Pages =
10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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