Doing the Right Thing: Collective Action and Procedural Choice in the New Legislative Process

Extract

Doing the Right Thing: Collective Action and Procedural Choice in the New Legislative Process. By Lawrence Becker. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2005. 164p. $39.95.

Lawrence Becker remarks that “it is no wonder that the American Congress is among the most reviled of American institutions,” and casts partial blame on political scientists who depict Congress as “gridlocked, impotent, overly influenced by special interests, and even corrupt (p. ix).” Becker has a point, and his investigation of several issue areas (base closings, free trade, nuclear waste disposal, and tax reform) where Congress has enacted legislation that “imposes direct costs on localities or particular economic sectors in favor of some general diffuse benefit such as deficit reduction” is refreshing (p. 1). The book is a nice complement to graduate-level readings that typically emphasize the particularistic, local emphasis of congressional policymaking. The well-written case studies and Becker's propositions concerning when such change is most likely to occur and how, though not ironclad, provide plenty of food for thought and discussion.