Ideas of Power: The Politics of American Party Ideology Development

by Verlan Lewis

This groundbreaking book challenges the dominant view of ideology held by both political scientists and political commentators. Rather than viewing ideological constructs like liberalism and conservatism as static concepts with fixed and enduring content, Professor Verlan Lewis explains how the very meanings of liberalism and conservatism frequently change along with the ideologies of the two major parties in American politics. Testing a new theory to help explain why party ideologies evolve the way that they do, this book traces the history of American political parties from the Hamiltonian Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans of the 1790s to the liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans of today. Ideas of Power shows us how changing party control of government institutions, such as Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court, influences how party ideologies develop.

Genres: Politics

214 pages, Paperback

Published June 20, 2019

Reviews

[Logan Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the way the author breaks down a complicated academic theory into layman terms even those of us who aren’t political scientists could understand. I especially appreciated all the stringent tests the theory was put through to see how it held up. I love history, seeing why we are the way we are, but I too often neglect more recent and especially US history. This book gave me a new paradigm through which to view my country and the history of our political parties and their ideologies while giving me plenty of fascinating facts around how our political parties came to be, which as the book shows were greatly influenced by the events of the times and vice versa the parties and their ideologies were also greatly influenced by the control of power by those parties and the shifts they went through to retain power and to justify it. Lots of facts and good storytelling filling in what I knew generally with some of the political details of party platforms and historical context that really add color to the events of the time. Also of course better understanding how control of gov institutions at various points in time ultimately led to changes in ideology when all the right elements were present. The ending especially was inspiring. Highly recommend!