Greasing the Wheels: Using Pork Barrel Projects to Build Majority Coalitions in Congress

by Diana Evans

Overview

Other books have documented pork barrel projects in different policy areas, but none has examined the process of using pork to buy votes for broad public policy. This book reveals how Congressional leaders and the President give pork barrel projects to Congressional members' districts to buy their votes for broad-based national legislation. It does so through interviews with key actors—who provide the basis for a rich narrative of the process of passing the bills as well as statistical analysis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521836814
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/14/2004
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Diana Evans is Professor of Political Science at Trinity College in Connecticut. She has published widely on the impact of interest groups and political action committees on congressional decision making, as well as on turnout in congressional elections. Her articles have appeared in such journals as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and Political Research Quarterly. She is past president of the New England Political Science Association and has been chair of the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association. She has served on the editorial boards of the American Political Science Review and Legislative Studies Quarterly.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Pork barrel politics and general interest legislation; 3. Who calls the shots? The allocation of pork barrel projects; 4. Highway demonstration projects and voting on the Federal Highway Program; 5. Presidential bargaining with Congress and the NAFTA bazaar; 6. Pork barreling in the Senate: do both parties do it?; 7. Conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

"...notably well written and clearheaded...Highly recommended." N.W. Polsby, University of California, Berkeley

"This elegant book elaborates on a central insight into congressional politics: "pork barreling, despite its much maligned status, gets things done"(p.2). Evan's book thus serves as an important, balanced corrective to prevailing scholarly and journalistic views of pork barrel politics." Political Science Quarterly, Frances E. Lee, University of Maryland

"This book is full of such keen observations and insights...it stands as an important and interesting study that adds to our understanding of Congress, policy entrepreneurs, and coalition information." Perspectives on Politics, Jeff Worsham, West Virginia University

From the Publisher