Checks and Balances, Veto Exceptionalism, and Constitutional Folk Wisdom
Class and Race Power in American Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6340323 |
|---|---|
| Authors | L L Miller (0000-0001-6165-2203, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1604-1618 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Research Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/10659129231166040 |
| OpenAlex | W4364363727 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 47 |
Conventional accounts of the U.S. constitution laud its checks and balances for diffusing power across many venues, limiting the potential for government oppression, and protecting political minorities. I refer to this as constitutional folk wisdom and contrast it with an American political economy approach of veto exceptionalism to better understand how the U.S. constitution shapes, and is shaped, by power relations. This analysis illustrates the volume and scope of veto exceptionalism and its implication for democratic participation and accountability, contrasts it with the virtues championed by the folk wisdom, and suggests how veto exceptionalism can help explain political outcomes and processes in American politics. I argue that the folk wisdom is not only inaccurate as a description of how power functions in the American “checks and balances” system; it is cultivated and utilized most frequently by powerful economic and racial actors that benefit from the anti-democratic and elitist features of the U.S. constitutional system
American exceptionalism · Constitution · Democracy · Exceptionalism · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Separation of powers · Sociology · Veto · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies
Child Tax Credits and (In)equitable State Policy Design
The US Minimum Wage in Comparative Perspective
Dilutive Drift
Compared to what
Tools of Subnational Democratic Subversion
Who Benefits From Federalism Claims in Federal Court
Federalism and Democratic Backsliding in Comparative Perspective
Race, Racism, and the Crisis of Democracy in Political Science
The Political Economy of Racial Capitalism in the United States
Racial battle lines and American political institutions
Southern politics in State and Nation
Southern Nation
Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State
Lobbying and Policy Change
The Submerged State
The Limits of Party
The Perils of Federalism
The rules of the game
Veto Players
Unequal Democracy
The Divided Welfare State
Can America Govern Itself?
The American Political Economy
Citizenship Reimagined
The Heart of Power, With a New Preface
Democracy for Realists
The Logic of Collective Action
Fragmented Democracy
The Nonmajoritarian Difficulty
Divided Government and Significant Legislation
Racial Representation and U.S. Senate Apportionment
Sizing Up the Senate
Producers, Parasites, Patriots
The American Precariat
Without Regard to Race
The Institutionalization of State Communities of Organized Interests
Racial Resentment and Whites’ Gun Policy Preferences in Contemporary America
Democratic Decline in the United States
Comparative Perspectives on Inequality and the Quality of Democracy in the United States
Much of Politics Is Still Local
Senate Apportionment as a Source of Political Inequality
Forceful Federalism against American Racial Inequality
Fragmented Welfare States
The American Political Economy
Decision Making in Political Systems
The Value of a Vote
The Conservative Policy Bias of US Senate Malapportionment
American Federalism, Political Inequality, and Democratic Erosion
Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites
Racial Orders in American Political Development
Black Politics and the Neoliberal Racial Order
The Public's Role in Winner-Take-All Politics
Social Democracy, Christian Democracy, Constitutional Structure, and the Welfare State
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |