Stephen K. Medvic’s Campaigns and Elections is a comprehensive yet compact core text that addresses two distinct but related aspects of American electoral democracy: the processes that constitute campaigns and elections and the players who are involved. In addition to balanced coverage of process and actors, it gives equal billing to both campaigns and elections and covers contests for legislative and executive positions at the national, state, and local levels, including issue-oriented campaigns of note.
This book opens by providing students with the conceptual distinctions between what happens in an election and the campaigning that precedes it. Significant attention is devoted to setting up the context for these campaigns and elections by covering the rules of the game in the American electoral system as well as aspects of election administration and the funding of elections. Then the book systematically covers the actors at every level—candidates and their organizations, parties, interest groups, the media, and voters—and the macro-level aspects of campaigns such as campaign strategy and determinants of election outcomes. The book concludes with a big-picture assessment of campaign ethics and implications of the “permanent campaign.”
Table of Contents:
1. Campaigns and Elections in American Democracy 2. Voting Rights and the U.S. Electoral System 3.Election Administration and the Campaign Finance System 4. Political Parties 5.Interest Groups 6.The Media 7. Voters 8.Candidates and Campaign Organizations 9. Campaigns 10.Elections 11.The Permanent Campaign Appendix: Constitutional Provisions Directly Related to Elections
About the Author :
Stephen K. Medvic is the Honorable & Mrs. John C. Kunkel Professor of Government at Franklin & Marshall College, USA. His books include Political Consultants in US Congressional Elections; New Directions in Campaigns and Elections; In Defense of Politicians; and Gerrymandering: The Politics of Redistricting in the United States.
Review :
Praise for Campaigns and Elections
"Stephen Medvic’s latest edition of Campaigns and Elections continues to explain these events from the perspectives of all the players. Instead of just discussing presidential elections, voters, and political parties, this volume does that and details candidate motivations to run for office at any level, the use of political consultants and election administration. This is the best book on the market for helping students understand all aspects of the campaign and election processes. The writing is engaging, the data is fresh, and the role-play scenarios and discussion questions are great tools for any instructor."
Robin Kolodny, Temple University, USA
"This book methodically describes the institutions and dynamics at the heart of American democracy. It skillfully focuses on the ways in which the participants (e.g., parties, interest groups, consultants, bureaucrats) and the rules interact to select those who will represent their constituencies. This edition of the book addresses fundamental questions about the resilience of democratic practices and norms in the wake of the most recent elections. There is no better assessment of the current state of how the United States conducts its elections and how candidates run their campaigns."
Kelly Patterson, Brigham Young University, USA
"Stephen Medvic’s textbook is quite an achievement: It is both exhaustively comprehensive and accessible for a college-age audience... This is an excellent and highly recommended text that provides clarity to the confounding issues of campaigns and elections in the US."
Mark Major, Pennsylvania State University, USA
"Campaigns and Elections provides a complete picture of campaigns, with great insight into both how campaigns work and what impact they have on election outcomes. Students benefit from the way Medvic clearly and accessibly brings together the broad forces of the political environment: the rules that create constraints and opportunities, the impact of candidates and campaign organizations, and voter behavior."
Christopher B. Mann, Skidmore College, USA; former congressional campaign manager, policy/political consultant, and party executive
"Detailing the legal and competitive aspects of elections as well as the contending interests of different political actors, the new edition of Campaigns and Elections: Players and Processes is unafraid to ask the thorny normative questions facing American elections and campaigns. 'Free and fair elections' rolls off the tongue easily, but freedom and fairness, as Medvic masterfully details, are contending values that our laws, politicians, and voters struggle to bring into balance. Students will walk away from this book with a systematic, historically driven, and theoretically solid information base to understand our strange system of elections as both scholars and citizens."
Michael Wolf, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, USA
"This text is a very impressive study of campaigns and elections in the United States, and a needed contribution to the field. Medvic has done a great job of describing the contemporary situation, while also identifying important questions raised by the electoral process."
Candice Nelson, American University, USA
