Esteemed Colleagues: Civility and Deliberation in the U.S. Senate

What's happened to the longstanding traditions of civility and decorum within "the world's greatest deliberative body"? While the Senate hasn't yet become as rancorous as the House, over the past three decades it has grown noticeably less collegial. In Esteemed Colleagues leading congressional scholars address the extent to which civility has declined in the U.S. Senate, and how that decline has affected our political system. The contributors analyze the relationships between Senators, shaped by high levels of both individualism and partisanship, and how these ties shape the deliberation of issues before the chamber. Civility and deliberation have changed in recent decades, up to and including the Clinton impeachment process, and the book sheds light on both the current American politics and the broad issues of representation, responsiveness, and capacity within our governmental institutions. Contributors include Ross K. Baker (Rutgers University), Eric M. Uslaner (University of Maryland), Barbara Sinclair (UCLA), C. Lawrence Evans (College of William and Mary), Walter J. Oleszek (Congressional Research Service), Gerald Gamm (University of Rochester), Steven S. Smith (University of Minnesota), Bruce I. Oppenheimer (Vanderbilt University), Timothy E. Cook (Williams College), Roger H. Davidson (University of Maryland), Colton C. Campbell (Florida International University), Norman Ornstein (American Enterprise Institute), and James A. Thurber (American University).