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This book details the policy subsystems - links among members of Congress, interest groups, program beneficiaries, and federal and subnational government agencies - that blanket the American political landscape. Robert Stein and Kenneth Bickers have constructed a new data-base detailing federal outlays to congressional districts for each federal program, and use it to examine four myths about the impact of policy subsystems on American government and democratic practice. These include the myth that policy subsystems are a major contributor to the federal deficit; that, once created, federal programs grow inexorably and rarely die; that, to garner support for their programs, subsystem actors seek to universalize the geographic scope of program benefits; and that the flow of program benefits to constituencies in congressional districts ensures the reelection of legislators. The authors conclude with an appraisal of proposals for reforming the American political system, including a balanced budget amendment, a presidential line-item veto, term limitations, campaign finance reform, and the reorganization of congressional committees. Stein and Bickers explore the policy subsystems that blanket the American political landscape employing a database detailing federal outlays to Congressional districts for each federal program. They examine four myths about the impact of policy subsystems on American government. Inhaltsverzeichnis Part I: 1. Policy subsystems and the pork barrel; Part II: 2. The Programmatic expansion of US domestic spending; 3. The geographic scope of domestic spending: a test of the universalism thesis; Part III: 4. A portfolio theory of policy subsystems; 5. PAC contributions and the distribution of domestic assistance programs; 6. Policy subsystem adaptability and resilience in the Reagan period; 7. Congressional elections and the pork barrel; Part IV: 8. Policy subsystems in practice and democratic theory; Appendices....
