Kansas Politics and Government
Kansas Politics and Government

Author: H. Edward Flentje

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2010-03-01

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0803220286

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The rich history of Kansas politics continues to generate an abundant literature. The state?s beginning as ?Bleeding Kansas? followed by Prohibition, populism, the Progressive Era, and the Dust Bowl, through to the present day, have given local and national writers and scholars an intriguing topic for exploration. While historians and biographers shed light on pieces of this history, journalists focus on current political affairs in the state. Rarely, however, are past and present connected to fully illuminate an understanding of Kansas politics and government. ø This volume uses the prism of political cultures to interpret Kansas politics and disclose the intimate connections between the state?s past and its current politics. The framework of political cultures evolves from underlying political preferences for liberty, order, and equality, and these preferences form the basis for the active political cultures of individualism, hierarchy, and egalitarianism. This comprehensive examination of Kansas political institutions argues that Kansas politics, historically and presently, may best be understood as a clash of political cultures.

The Legislature as an Organization
The Legislature as an Organization

Author: Marvin Andrew Harder

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 1979

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13:

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An innovative approach to legislative study, this volume views the Kansas legislature from the perspective of organization theory. Authors Marvin A. Harder and Raymond G. Davis examine the technical and procedural aspects of the legislature that most scholars have overlooked. They provide a careful, precise, theoretical study of the organization and structure, administrative and staff relationships, and formal processes of the legislature. Applying the concepts of organization theory, Harder and Davis describe and analyze how the Kansas legislature works. They cover the legislative staff, the networks of communication and socialization, the role of leadership, the committees, and the legislative functions of lawmaking and of overseeing. They also discuss recent changes in the legislature and give a profile of the legislators. This book breaks new ground by focusing on organization theory, rather than political analysis, to explain the dynamics of legislative operations. Of particular value to Kansas legislators and students of Kansas legislative process, it will also contribute to the general literature about American legislative institutions.