Ebook: Deadlock and disillusionment: American politics since 1968

Polarization, divisiveness, and dysfunction are defining features of early twenty-first-century American politics. With no apparent end in sight, we well might ask: How did we get here? In Deadlock and Disillusionment: American Politics since 1968, Gary Reichard explores the politics and policy debates, from the Nixon administration to the waning days of the Obama presidency, that have shaped the present-day political landscape. Rejecting the conventional wisdom that the recent political era has been characterized by the rise and primacy of the political right, Reichard shows, in the latest volume in the distinguished American History series, how recent decades have been characterized by a hardening deadlock between the major parties and increasing disillusionment in the electorate. Initial chapters take us from Nixon's cynical "Southern strategy" and the emergent Republican majority, to the Watergate scandal and its aftermath, up through the abandonment of idealism in the late 1970s. Themes explored in the 1980s include the rise of right-wing politics, culture wars, and economics. Reichard then traces the deepening divide of the final decade of the twentieth century by exploring such issues as the illusion of a liberal revival, the quest for a post-Cold War foreign policy, and the crises of the Clinton presidency. Coverage of the polarizing politics of the early years of the new millennium includes the divisive resolution of Bush v. Gore and partisan battles over the war on terrorism. The concluding chapter explores partisanship since 2008 by looking at the politics of hope, government by dysfunction, and the trench warfare tha tis contemporary politcs. -- from back cover.;Introduction: 1968-The end of an era -- 1. The politics of cynicism, 1968-1974 -- The shaping of a new majority -- Conservatism as reform -- The politics of war and détente -- Watergate and its aftermath -- 2. The futility of moderation, 1974-1976 -- The politics of forgiveness -- President as political prisoner -- Détente derailed -- 3. Dashed hopes, 1976-1980 -- Fractured majority -- Threading the needle -- The abandonment of idealism -- 4. Dogma and (more) disappointment, 1980-1988 -- The rise of the right -- Reaganomics -- Culture wars and party politics -- Reagan's world -- 5. Squandering the inheritance, 1988-1992 -- Succession by hardball -- The bills come due -- New world (dis)order -- 6. The deepening divide, 1992-2000 -- The illusion of liberal revival -- The politics of triangulation -- Quest for a post-Cold War foreign policy -- Crises of the Clinton presidency -- 7. The politics of polarization, 2000-2008 -- Ultimate deadlock: Bush v. Gore -- The politics of anti-terrorism -- Imagined mandate -- The politics of certitude -- 8. The politics of red and blue, since 2008 -- The politics of hope -- Government by dysfunction -- The politics of trench warfare -- Conclusion: Deadlock and disillusionment.