For more than fifteen years, Government and Politics in Florida has been the only book to offer authoritative information on the operations of government and nuances of politics in the Sunshine State. Published in two editions (1991 and 1998) under the editorship of Robert Huckshorn, the book has consistently featured contributions by Florida's most well-known and respected political scientists. Now edited by Edwin Benton, the third edition retains all of the chapters from the previous edition--though all have been revised and many rewritten by new authors. There are also entirely new chapters on the critical policy areas of education, public welfare, and health care, and one on intergovernmental relations. A chapter in the second edition on public opinion and interest groups has been divided into two chapters, one focusing on political culture and political attitudes, the other focusing on interest groups. A final, concluding chapter ties together the volume and speculates about the future of government and politics in Florida. From executive branch to legislature, from the court system to political parties, there is no other book that serves as a better introductory text for courses on Florida government.
A political biography of Kenneth "Buddy" MacKay who served as a Florida legislator, member of Congress, and lieutenant governor to the late Lawton Chiles.
Inside the reinvention of Florida politics Florida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida Nonfiction Reubin Askew was swept into the governor's office in 1970 as part of a remarkable wave of progressive politics and legislative reform in Florida. A man of uncompromising principle and independence, he was elected primarily on a platform of tax reform. In the years that followed, Askew led a group of politicians from both parties who sought--and achieved--judicial reform, redistricting, busing and desegregation, the end of the Cross Florida Barge Canal, the Sunshine Amendment, and much more. This period was truly a golden age of Florida politics, and Martin Dyckman's narrative is well written, fast paced, and reads like a novel. Dyckman also reveals how the return of special interests, the rise of partisan politics, unlimited campaign spending, term limits, gerrymandering, and more have eroded the achievements of the Golden Age in subsequent decades.
In 1992, Florida voters approved an amendment to the state’s Constitution creating eight-year term limits for legislators—making Florida the second-largest state, after California, to implement such a law. Eight years later, sixty-eight term-limited senators and representatives were forced to retire, and the state saw the highest number of freshman legislators since the first legislative session in 1845. Proponents view term limits as part of a battle against the rising political class and argue that limits will foster a more honest and creative body with ideal “citizen” legislators. However, in this comprehensive twenty-year study, the first of its kind to examine the effects of term limits in Florida, Kathryn DePalo shows nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, these limits created a more powerful governor, legislative staffers, and lobbyists. Because incumbency is now certain, leadership races—especially for Speaker—are sometimes completed before members have even cast a single vote. Furthermore, legislators rarely leave public office; they simply return to local offices, where they continue to exert influence. The Failure of Term Limits in Florida is a tour de force examination of the unintended and surprising consequences of the new incumbency advantage in the Sunshine State.
Despite Florida's current reputation as a swing state, there was a time when its Republicans were the underdogs against a Democratic powerhouse. This book tells the story of how the Republican Party of Florida became the influential force it is today. Republicans briefly came to power in Florida after the Civil War but were called "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" by residents who resented pro-Union leadership. They were so unpopular that they didn't earn official party status in the state until 1928. Peter Dunbar and Mike Haridopolos show how, due largely to a population boom in the state and a schism in the Democratic Party, Republicans slowly started to see their ranks swell. This book chronicles the paths that led to a Republican majority in both the state Senate and House in the second half of the twentieth century and highlights successful campaigns of Florida Republicans for national positions. It explores the platforms and impact of Republican governors from Claude Kirk to Ron DeSantis. It also looks at how a robust two-party system opened up political opportunities for women and minorities and how Republicans affected pressing issues such as public education, environmental preservation, and criminal justice. As the Sunshine State enters its third decade under GOP control and partisan tensions continue to mount across the country, this book provides a timely history of the modern political era in Florida and a careful analysis of challenges the Republican Party faces in a state situated at the epicenter of the nation's politics.
This collection examines the motivation and stories of minority leaders elected to political office in Florida by employing standard interview questions and material from biographies, newspaper articles and academic studies.
"Adkins portrays a major turning point in the development of modern Florida and has done a great job of bringing to life so many of the people who achieved this massive rewrite of our constitution."--Talbot D'Alemberte, former president of the American Bar Association and author of The Florida State Constitution "Deftly captures the story of the politics and powerful personalities who created a more modern government structure for Florida."--Neil Skene, former editor and president of Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Mid-twentieth-century Florida was a state in flux. Changes exemplified by rapidly burgeoning cities and suburbs, the growth of the Kennedy Space Center during the space race, and the impending construction of Walt Disney World overwhelmed the outdated 1885 constitution. A small group of rural legislators known as the "Pork Chop Gang" controlled the state and thwarted several attempts to modernize the constitution. Through court-imposed redistribution of legislators and the hard work of state leaders, however, the executive branch was reorganized and the constitution was modernized. In Making Modern Florida, Mary Adkins goes behind the scenes to examine the history and impact of the 1966-68 revision of the Florida state constitution. With storytelling flair, Adkins uses interviews and detailed analysis of speeches and transcripts to vividly capture the moves, gambits, and backroom moments necessary to create and introduce a new state constitution. This carefully researched account brings to light the constitutional debates and political processes in the growth to maturity of what is now the nation's third largest state.
"David Colburn and Lance deHaven-Smith have long been two of Florida's most respected and insightful political commentators, so it comes as no surprise that they have authored such an interesting and eminently readable analysis of the Sunshine State's dynamic political history and culture. [They] powerfully demonstrate how Florida's eclectic mix of people, ideas, economic activities, and environmental treasures gives us a preview of the challenges and opportunities that the United States will confront in the 21st century."--Bob Graham, U.S. Senator From the foreword: "I strongly encourage all citizens to read this important book so that they will understand how Florida's history has shaped its current political environment and helped determine the issues that are crucial to the state's development. . . . This wonderful book provides a starting point for Floridians to recommit themselves to the American experiment."--Governor Reubin O'D. Askew "The general public will join Florida historians in welcoming this succinct and artfully told story of Florida's state, county, and municipal governments since statehood in 1845. The authors, who are among the most accomplished scholars in their field, have taken a complex historical chronology and organized it into easy-to-grasp central themes. As a result, the reader readily understands that this is not a fact and date-ridden textbook but an attractive, fast-moving narrative garnished with pithy insights, unusual juxtapositions, and unexpected wit. The amount of information here is impressive, but political science in Florida has rarely been rendered so palatable. Savor it!"--Michael Gannon, author of Florida: A Short History Whether new to Florida or a rare native, you probably find the state's government confusing, if not downright mystifying--the role of southern politics in a state that seems so unsouthern bewilders more than a few newcomers. In this lively introduction to Florida's political history, David Colburn and Lance deHaven-Smith explain the evolution of Florida's government, and the forces that affected that evolution, from 1845 to the present. Florida's heritage has been shaped by Native American and Spanish roots, colonial ties to Great Britain, a Deep South culture marked by racial strife and the Civil War, and, most recently, economic and immigration dynamics that link it to the Sunbelt States, the Caribbean, and South America. These richly diverse ethnic, racial, and regional influences combine to make Florida politics complex, contradictory, occasionally bizarre, but seldom dull. Addressing how all this diversity has shaped government, and what it means for the 21st century, the authors offer a concise, readable history of Florida's political development over the last 150 years and of the issues facing the state today--information essential to all Floridians, including new voters, new residents, and newly elected officials, as well as seasoned political observers. David R. Colburn is professor of history and director of the Reubin O'D. Askew Institute on Politics and Society at the University of Florida. He is the coeditor of The African American Heritage of Florida (UPF, 1995), author of Racial Change and Community Crisis: St. Augustine, Florida, 1877-1980 (UPF, 1991), and coauthor of Florida's Gubernatorial Politics in the Twentieth Century (UPF, 1981). He writes regularly on state and national politics in the Orlando Sentinel. Lance deHaven-Smith is professor of public administration and associate director of the Florida Institute of Government at Florida State University. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of ten books, including Environmental Concern in Florida and the Nation (UPF, 1991), The Florida Voter, and Almanac of Florida Politics. He and David Colburn coedited Amid Political, Cultural and Civic Diversity: Building a Sense of Statewide Community in Florida.
This exciting new book explores the role of government, politics, and policy in American lives. Full of real life applications and scenarios, this text encourages and enables political thinking. The second edition has been updated to include recent developments in U.S. politics and government. This includes the description and analysis of the 2016 elections as well as the early Trump administration. Chapters have expanded coverage of immigration policy, environmental policy, economic policy, and global affairs (including counterterrorism policy). The text also includes analysis of racial issues in contemporary American politics and law. It also addresses questions about the state of the economy, jobs, and wages.Hyperlinks and URLs provide ?deeper dives? into various topics and examples of comparative politics.
