Folkways of Congress

Brian Alexander is Associate Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University, USA. His research focuses on the intersection of institutions and political power with a concentration on the U.S. Congress.

• AcknowledgementsForward, Senator Olympia SnowePreface, Congressman Daniel Lipinski1. Introduction: What We Talk About When We Talk About Norms, Brian Alexander (Washington and Lee University, USA)Part I: Historical Norms in the Modern Context2. Maiden Speeches and Apprenticeship: Continuity and Change in the U.S. Senate, C. Luke Basham (George Washington University, USA)3. From Reciprocity to Retribution: Rules Changes in the Senate and the Consequence for Norms, Lauren C. Bell (Randolph-Macon College, USA)4. Measuring Specialization in the U.S. House and Senate through Floor Speeches, Robert X. Browning (Purdue University, USA)5. Seniority and the Development of Procedural Norms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Joshua C. Huder (Georgetown University, USA)6. Two Types of Legislative Conflict: Norm Breaking versus Party Polarization, Scot Schraufnagel and Nader Alghoul (Northern Illinois University, USA)7. For the Good of Congress: Collective Acts of Institutional Patriotism on Capitol Hill, Andrew J. Taylor (North Carolina State University, USA)Part II: New Norms for a New Era8. Norms in Congressional Oversight Investigations: Problem-Solving Versus Partisan Messaging, Elise J. Bean (Wayne State University Law School, USA)9. Stretching Rules in the Modern Congress, Sarah Binder (George Washington University, USA)10. Mutual Intolerance: Declining Civility in Official Office Communications, Casey Burgat (George Washington University, USA) and Annelise Russell (University of Kentucky, USA)11. The House of Representatives’ Century-long Norm of Respecting States’ Election Determinations, Kevin R. Kosar (American Enterprise Institute, USA)12. Norms and Rules in the Contemporary Congressional Budget Process, Molly Reynolds (The Brookings Institution, USA)13. Democratic Norms of the Legislative Process, Matthew N. Green (Catholic University of America, USA)Afterword: The New Normal in Congress and Its Changing Norms, Donald R. Wolfensberger (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA)About the ContributorsIndex