Research Catalog

Title

Designing a polity : America's Constitution in theory and practice / James W. Ceaser.

Author

Ceaser, James W.

Publication

Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, c2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xi, 215 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

James W. Ceaser argues for the continuing central role of the Founding within the study of American government. Drawing on essays published over the past 10 years, extensively updated and revised to reflect current politics, Ceaser engages the Founding Fathers, particularly James Madison, emphasizes Alexis de Tocqueville as a model of political inquiry, critiques current and recent theorists such as Richard Rorty and Jacques Derrida, and explores the varieties of contemporary conservative thought. --from publisher description

Subject

• Constitutional history > United States
• United States > Politics and government

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

pt. I Political foundations. 1. The doctrine of political nonfoundationalism -- 2. Political foundations in Tocqueville's Democracy in America -- 3. American political foundations in the thought of Leo Strauss -- pt. II The founders, constitutional design, and the role of political science. 4. Fame and The federalist : the American founders and the recovery of political science -- 5. Demagoguery, statesmanship, and presidential politics -- 6. Doctrines of presidential-congressional relations -- pt. III Modern conservatism. 7. Four heads and one heart : the modern conservative movement -- 8. The social construction of the Reagan legacy -- pt. IV The American way of life. 9. The theoretical origins of anti-Americanism.

ISBN

• 9781442207905 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 1442207906 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 9781442207929 (electronic)
• 1442207922 (electronic)

LCCN

^^2010030132

OCLC

650019931

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library