Research Catalog

State capture : how conservative activists, big businesses, and wealthy donors reshaped the American states--and the nation

Title
State capture : how conservative activists, big businesses, and wealthy donors reshaped the American states--and the nation / Alexander Hertel-Fernandez.
Author
Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander, 1986-
Publication
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019]

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Details

Description
xx, 356 pages : illustrations, maps; 25 cm
Summary
"Most Americans pay little attention to the massive number of elections that occur at the state level every year. Yet cumulatively, a party's success in state-level races across the country can produce major shifts in policymaking and governance. That is precisely what has happened in the US since 2010. In a wave election that year, the Republican Party began their ascendancy in state-level elections, and by 2016 had solidified their dominance. The party now fully controls 26 state legislatures and governorships--one of the largest advantages either party has had since the New Deal. After the GOP wave, a broad swath of states began considering and enacting a near-identical set of conservative priorities--often even using the exact same text. Where did this flood of new legislation come from? How did so many states arrive at the same proposals at precisely the same time? As Alexander Hertel-Fernandez shows in the eye-opening State Capture, the answer can be found in a trio of powerful interest groups: the Koch Brothers-run Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the State Policy Network (SPN). Drawing from an impressive evidence base, Hertel-Fernandez explains how, since the 1970s, conservative activists, wealthy donors, and big businesses constructed a right-wing "troika" of overlapping and influential lobbying groups. But it is about more than this. It also teases out how conservative-corporate mobilization has fostered epochal shifts in the American political economy: the decline of unions, party polarization, and the skyrocketing concentration of wealth. State Capture will be essential reading for anyone interested in understanding contemporary American politics."--
Alternative Title
How conservative activists, big businesses, and wealthy donors reshaped the American states--and the nation
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-342) and index.
Contents
pt. 1: The evolution of ALEC: a corporate-conservative anchor across the states -- "The most dangerously effective organization": a smart ALEC is born -- Policy plagiarism: a window into ALEC's reach across the U.S. states -- An easy "A" with ALEC: ALEC's appeal for state legislators -- "A great investment": ALEC's appeal for big business -- pt. 2: The right-wing troika and its foes -- A little help from their friends: introducing the right-wing troika -- Transforming the nation one state at a time: the right-wing troika and state policy -- "Feisty chihuahuas versus a big gorilla": why left-wing efforts to counter the troika have floundered -- Conclusion: state capture and American democracy.
Call Number
JFE 19-4338
ISBN
  • 9780190870799
  • 0190870796
LCCN
2018027144
OCLC
1028517851
Author
Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander, 1986- author.
Title
State capture : how conservative activists, big businesses, and wealthy donors reshaped the American states--and the nation / Alexander Hertel-Fernandez.
Publisher
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-342) and index.
Chronological Term
2000-2099
Other Form:
Online version: Hertel-Fernandez, Alex, 1986- State capture. New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019 9780190870805 (DLC) 2018038838
Research Call Number
JFE 19-4338
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