Legislative Learning: The 104th Republican Freshmen in the House(Politics and Policy in American Institutions)

Legislative Learning breaks new theoretical and descriptive ground in examining the political perceptions, policy principles and power plays of the influential 104th Republican freshmen in the U.S. House. This even-handed book builds on the work of leading congressional scholars, and provides a detailed evaluation of coalition politics, freshmen style. Barnett shows how political environments can produce legislators who place a premium on their policy-making goals through a nuanced exploration of factors undergirding member perceptions, policy ambitions, class cohesion, and legislative learning.

Series Editor Foreword, Steven A. Shull; Foreword, Burdett Loomis; 1. The Watershed Congress and Theory Development; 2. 1997: Three Scenes from Act II of the GOP Revolution; 3. The Reelection Goal and Ambition Theory: Mayhew and Fenno Revisited; 4. The Development of the 104th GOP Freshman Class Cohesion; 5. Perspectives of the 104th GOP Freshmen: An Overview; 6. Freshmen and Principles: The Contract as Mission; 7. Freshmen and Principals: The Perception of a Mandate; 8. The Freshmen as a Political Unit: Limitations and Dimensions; 9. Leadership and Freshman Class Power Relations in the House; 10. Learning by Doing: The Progress of the 104th Class; 11. Putting the 104th Freshman Class into Perspective; Epilogue; Appendix A: Interview List; Appendix B: Research Design and Data Acquisition

"Overall, Barnett's Legislative Learning is a well done theoretical volume that attempts to understand the Republican Freshman Class of 1994 through competing interpretations of principle-agent analysis and member goal and ambition theories. -Gregory R. Thorson. American Political Science Review. Vol.96, No.1."
"I found it fascinating to read Dr. Barnett's careful and scholarly analysis of the 104th Congress, which I experienced first hand in all its struggle and passion. The depth of his research is astounding, and his conclusions ring true." -- Tony Blankley, Press Secretary to the Speaker of the House, 104th Congress
"An excellent, engaging and prodigiously researched study of the efforts - sometimes successful, often not - of the 1994 House Republican freshmen, to cope with such ingredients of legislative learning as political principle, career ambition, class cohesion, party organization, and institutional policy making." -- Richard F. Fenno Jr.- Distinguished University Professor, University of Rochester