Inventive politicians and ethnic ascent in American politics
Subtitle: the uphill elections of Italians and Mexicans to the U.S. Congress
By: Miriam Jiménez
Series: Routledge research in american politics and governance -- 11
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
ISBN-13: 9780415818490; 9780203581216
Subjects: Minorities; Political activity; Immigrants; Italian Americans; Politics and government; Mexican Americans; Politicians; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / Legislative Branch; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / General; POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory; United States. Congress; United States
Description: "This innovative book investigates the process through which ethnic minorities penetrate into higher echelons of political power: specifically, how they succeed in getting elected to the U.S. Congress. Analysts today see ethnic politicians largely in relation to their collectivities, but by actually studying what ethnic minority politicians do and the issues they have faced, Jimâenez's book offers an original perspective of analysis. Jiménez utilizes a ground-breaking comparative dataset of elected members of Congress organized upon the basis of national origin, the first available. Using the cases of Mexican-Americans and Italian-Americans, Jiménez analyzes and compares the different ways that these ethnic politicians have been elected to the national legislature from the beginning of the 20th century until the present. Her study examines Italian and Mexican-American politicians' actions and interactions with local political parties, identifies various layers of political power that have influenced their successes and failures, and uncovers the strategies that they have used." --
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-221) and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Politicians, institutions, and change; title: Uphill struggles and inventive politicians --; title: Italians and Mexicans in the United States : a brief historical survey -- -- Part II. When local parties ruled; title: Introduction --; title: Big machines and inventive Italians --; title: Mexican Americans : invisibility and exception -- -- Part III. National standards--and more parties; title: Introduction --; title: Italian Americans : new rules, challenges, and change --; title: Mexican Americans : new rules and old problems -- -- Part IV. Ethnic ascent from a micro approach; title: Conclusion -- -- References; title: Appendixes --; title: Appendix 1. Italian Americans in the U.S. Congress, 1880-2012 --; title: Appendix 2. Mexican Americans in the U.S. Congress, 1880-2012 --; title: Appendix 3. Notes on data sources and the construction of ethnicity.