Race and American Political Development

Race is central to American political development. It has been present at every critical moment in political development in the United States, shaping political institutions, political discourse, public policy and its denizens' political identities. But because of the nature of race'its evolving and dynamic status as a structure of inequality, a political organizing principle, an ideology, and a system of power'we need historical, institutional and discursive modes of analysis to study the politics of race adequately.Covering more than three hundred years of American political history from the founding to the contemporary moment, the contributors in this volume make this sustained argument. Together, they provide an understanding of American politics that challenges our conventional disciplinary tools of studying politics and our conservative political moment's dominant narrative of racial progress. This volume, the first to collect essays on the role of race in American political history and development, resituates race in American politics as an issue for sustained and broadened critical scholarly research and action.Lowndes, Joseph is the author of 'Race and American Political Development', published 2008 under ISBN 9780415961530 and ISBN 041596153X.