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Representation in Crisis: The Constitution, Interest Groups, and Political Parties. By David K. Ryden. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. 309p. $21.95.
Lane V. Sunderland, Knox College
David Ryden's book is about representation, the proper and constitutional role of political parties in U.S. democracy, and the influence of the Supreme Court in undermining this role. The book would enrich courses in U.S. government, political parties and interest groups, and constitutional law. Ryden analyzes group theory and pluralism, including the work of Arthur Bentley, David Truman, Robert Dahl, E. E. Schattschneider, Grant McConnell, and Theodore Lowi. He also devotes a chapter to group-centered representation, including the work of Iris Marion Young, Lani Guinier, and Robert Grady. He uses this analysis to inform his treatment of Supreme Court cases that have affected representation and political parties. Written in a readable and concise manner, the book successfully combines a basic and sophisticated analysis of representation with scholarship and theory on representation, political parties, and the Supreme Court. The result is a book which accomplishes the difficult task of laying basic groundwork in a thoughtful manner while advancing scholarship on the implications of important Supreme Court decisions and making an important contribution to an area that has been somewhat neglected.
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