平易な言葉で合衆国の立法府である連邦議会の構成や権限、特徴を解説する一冊。フィラデルフィア憲法制定会議を経て議会が設置された経緯、上院の各委員会とその任、議会スタッフやロビイストの役割、議事運営、議会規則、協調体制の構築、議員が有権者に対し行う活動などについて深い洞察や分析を加え概説します。大統領や上院の少数派が力を持つ今の時代に果たして建国当時の理想は機能しているのでしょうか。第3版には2021年1月の議会議事堂襲撃事件など異例の事態・展開が続く近年の政治状況を盛り込みアップデートしています。
  

• Written by one of the leading authorities on the U.S. Congress
• Approaches the subject in an informed and accessible manner, critical but not cynical
• Uses both political science and history to examine the legislative behavior, parliamentary language, and evolution of practice in Congress
• Provides a concise tour of a vital institution in the American political and legislative process

     
Donald A. Ritchie, a congressional historian for forty years , takes readers on a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour of Capitol Hill, pointing out the key players, explaining their behavior, and translating parliamentary language into plain English. He also explores the essential necessity of compromise to accomplish anything significant in the legislative arena. However, recent events show that political polarization has hardened and produced gridlock, as Ritchie explains in this new edition. The 2020 election also produced a more diverse membership in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, and ideology, with primary elections resulting in the defeat of moderate candidates by opponents ranging from socialists on the left to conspiracy theorists on the right, making bipartisan compromise harder to achieve.
    
Among the most significant events since the last edition, the Senate ignored President Obama's last nomination to the Supreme Court and then adopted a "nuclear option" to streamline future Supreme Court confirmations. The House also twice impeached President Trump, processes that starkly expose the differences between the majority-rule requirements of the House and the super-majority requirements of the Senate. This new edition explains how the parties have changed in light of the unprecedented politics of the past four years, culminating in the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and how this development has affected both the House and the Senate.