Political Women and American Democracy

What do we know about women, politics, and democracy in the United States? The last thirty years have witnessed a remarkable increase in women's participation in American politics and an explosion of research on female political actors, and the transformations effected by them, during the same period. Political Women and American Democracy provides a critical synthesis of scholarly research by leading experts in the field. The collected essays examine women as citizens, voters, participants, movement activists, partisans, candidates, and legislators. The authors provide frameworks for understanding and organizing existing scholarship; focus on theoretical, methodological, and empirical debates; and map out productive directions for future research. As the only book to offer "state of the field" essays on women and gender in U.S. politics, Political Women and American Democracy will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students studying and conducting women and politics research.

Author: Christina Wolbrecht, Karen Beckwith, Lisa Baldez
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03/24/2008
Pages: 278
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.30w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780521713849


Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2009

About the Author
Wolbrecht, Christina: - Christina Wolbrecht is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Director of the Program of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame. Her book, The Politics of Women's Rights: Parties, Positions, and Change (2000), was recipient of the 2001 Leon Epstein Outstanding Book Award from the American Political Science Association (Political Organizations and Parties Section). She has published articles in many journals, including the American Journal of Political Science and the Journal of Politics.Beckwith, Karen: - Karen Beckwith is the Flora Stone Mather Professor in the Department of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University. She is co-editor of Women's Movements Facing the Reconfigured State (with Lee Ann Banaszak and Dieter Rucht; Cambridge University Press, 2003), and has published articles on women, gender and politics in the European Journal of Political Research, Politics and Society, Signs, and several other journals. She is founding editor, with Lisa Baldez, of Politics and Gender, the journal of the Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association.Baldez, Lisa: - Lisa Baldez is Associate Professor in the Government and Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies Departments at Dartmouth College. She is founding editor, with Karen Beckwith, of Politics and Gender, the journal of the Women and Political Research Section of the American Political Science Association. She is author of Why Women Protest: Women's Movements in Chile (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and numerous journal articles.