Kansas Politics and Government

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Kansas Politics and Government

The Clash of Political Cultures

H. Edward Flentje and Joseph A. Aistrup

Politics and Governments of the American States Series

290 pages

Hardcover

March 2010

978-0-8032-2028-7

$70.00 Add to Cart
Paperback

March 2010

978-0-8032-6919-4

$30.00 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

March 2010

978-0-8032-2821-4

$30.00 Add to Cart

About the Book

The rich history of Kansas politics continues to generate an abundant literature. The state’s beginning as “Bleeding Kansas” followed by Prohibition, populism, the Progressive Era, and the Dust Bowl, through to the present day, have given local and national writers and scholars an intriguing topic for exploration. While historians and biographers shed light on pieces of this history, journalists focus on current political affairs in the state. Rarely, however, are past and present connected to fully illuminate an understanding of Kansas politics and government.
 
This volume uses the prism of political cultures to interpret Kansas politics and disclose the intimate connections between the state’s past and its current politics. The framework of political cultures evolves from underlying political preferences for liberty, order, and equality, and these preferences form the basis for the active political cultures of individualism, hierarchy, and egalitarianism. This comprehensive examination of Kansas political institutions argues that Kansas politics, historically and presently, may best be understood as a clash of political cultures.

Author Bio

H. Edward Flentje is a professor of public administration in the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs at Wichita State University. He is the author or editor of several publications on state and local government, including Kansas Policy Choices and the papers of Kansas governors Robert Bennett and Mike Hayden. Joseph A. Aistrup is a professor of political science and interim associate dean of arts and sciences at Kansas State University. He is the author of The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South.

Praise

"This book is likely to become the standard text in courses on Kansas politics."—Michael A. Smith, Kansas History

"This is an impressive performance, and Kansas Politics and Government ranks as one of the best in the Nebraska series. For understanding Kansas and the politics of the Plains more generally, it should be required reading."—Burdett A. Loomis, Great Plains Quarterly

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Political Cultures
3. The Constitution
4. Elections and Political Parties
5. The State Legislature
6. The Governor
7. Interest Groups and Lobbying
8. State and Local Governments in a Federal Structure
9. Taxing, Spending, and Borrowing
10. Kansas Politics in State and Nation
11. Suggestions for Further Study
Appendix 1: The Kansas Court System
Appendix 2: Summary of Legislation Governing Lobbying in Kansas

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