America's Three Regimes: A New Political History

by Morton Keller

Hailed in The New York Times Book Review as "the single best book written in recent years on the sweep of American political history," this groundbreaking work divides our nation's history into three "regimes," each of which lasts many, many decades, allowing us to appreciate as never before the slow steady evolution of American politics, government, and law. The three regimes, which mark longer periods of continuity than traditional eras reflect, are Deferential and Republican, from the colonial period to the 1820s; Party and Democratic, from the 1830s to the 1930s; and Populist and Bureaucratic, from the 1930s to the present. Praised by The Economist as "a feast to enjoy" and by Foreign Affairs as "a masterful and fresh account of U.S. politics," here is a major contribution to the history of the United States--an entirely new way to look at our past, our present, and our future--packed with provocative and original observations about American public life.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is it that a nation changes its regime?  It is the author's belief that America has had three regimes over the course of its political history and that the shift between these regimes has been notable, and also that these regimes have struggled to deal with various aspects of the political life of Americans.  If slavery and economic development were problems for American for a long period, and if deference is so remote in the historical sense that few people remember it as important in history, then it is impossible to ignore the nature of the contemporary regime of populism and bureaucracy.  If you have an interest in the regimes that underlie political trends, this book is certainly one that is easy to enjoy and appreciate and I have to say that I liked and enjoyed reading this book.  The author doesn't try to predict what will happen in the future and given the problems of our contemporary days, that is probably for the best.  We are definitely in a crisis relating to the tension between bureaucracy and populism, and it is unclear what exactly is on the other side of that crisis, whether it is a new regime or simply what the author considers a new polity.

This particular book is about 300 pages long and is divided in four parts and twelve chapters.  The author begins with acknowledgements and an introduction that discusses and introduces the regimes of America's political history.  After that there is a discussion of the deferential-republican regime that was brought over with the colonists from the British politics of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (I), discussing old ways and new (1), the Republican nature of the American Revolution (2) and the transition from factions to parties (3).  After that the author discusses the democratic polity during the antebellum period where the party-democratic regime got started in the Age of Jackson (II), with chapters discussing the culture of Democratic party politics (4), the governing of a democratic polity (5), and the crisis that involved slavery and sectionalism (6).  This is followed by a discussion of the industrial polity of the party-democratic regime that lasted until the Great Depression (III), with chapters on the politicos (7) and their power, the state of parties and courts (8) that took place starting in the late 19th century, and the progressive interlude towards the end of this period (9).  The last part of the book then discusses the contemporary populist-bureaucratic regime that is often politely viewed as the deep state and its opponents (IV), with chapters discussing the rise of this regime in the Great Depression (10), the relationship between bureaucracy and democracy (11), and the tension between populism and party (12), after which the author gives an epilogue about demographic trends and notes and an index.,

Why should we care about the regimes that a nation has?  What is it that governments are supposed to do in the first place?  They are supposed to serve the interests of the people.  These interests and the people vary widely based on perspective.  And governments have not always done a good job at serving those people who did not benefit them and whose interests were not the interests of the elites themselves.  And to some extent that is still the case even now, as there are people who do not feel well-served by politics of deference, by crony politics, by bureaucracy, populism, or anything else for that matter.  To some extent, regimes serve people based on the sort of communication and regard and mutual benefit that rests between people and those who seek to use that base of support as a means of gaining or maintaining political power.  And America's history with regards to politics has been a very competitive one, where there is some serious question about the nature of the trends that we deal with and what they look like in a world that appears to be in a continual state of disagreement and crisis.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keller provided a good, big-picture overview of the history of the American political system. Describing the workings of the three regimes over the course of American history, he marshals a lot of examples to show the distinction between them.

Keller calls the system that came out of the American colonial and revolutionary periods the "deferential-republican" regime, influenced by the colonial social hierarchies and the republican ideals of the American Revolution. As American political culture became more democratic, the "party-democratic" regime arose, in which the political energies of Americans were channeled through the two-party system. Strong parties provided a sense of membership as well as patronage benefits, even while they did not have great ideological consistency. The Great Depression and the presidency of FDR signaled the rise of the "populist-bureaucratic" regime, during which the federal bureaucracy's size and influence has grown immensely. At the same time, the parties' strength has given way to the influence of judges, interest groups, and media coverage claiming to act in the name of the people against the establishment (hence, populist).

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Summer reading. Long and painful and information vomit

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great, if slightly "revolutionary" introduction to American Political history. I can't speak to some of the inferences that the author makes about why America's political discourse unfolds the way it does, but if you want a valid narrative of how politics has evolved this is a great way introduction to it.

[Maggie Needham · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is painful.