Ideas of Power The Politics of American Party Ideology Development

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.

1. The liberal conservative myth and political science; 2. A political theory of American party ideology development; 3. The presidency and party theories of foreign intervention; 4. Unified government and party theories of economic intervention; 5. The Supreme Court and party theories of judicial intervention; 6. Politics, history, and American party ideology development.

Verlan Lewis is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, California. His research focuses on how political institutions and ideas interact over time, and his work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Studies in American Political Development, Presidential Studies Quarterly, The Forum, and The Washington Post.