Analyzes how rising party polarization, unequal representation, and economic inequalities affect the performance of American governing institutions.

1. Anxieties of American democracy Frances E. Lee and Nolan McCarty; Part I. Anxieties of Power, Influence, and Representation: 2. In the private interest? Business influence and American democracy Anthony S. Chen; 3. The interest group top tier: lobbying inequality and American governance Lee Drutman, Matt Grossmann and Timothy LaPira; 4. Developments in Congressional responsiveness to donor opinion Brandice Canes-Wrone and Nathan Gibson; 5. Minority protest and the early stages of governmental responsiveness in the electoral process Daniel Gillion and Patricia Posey; 6. The hollow parties Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld; Part II. Procedural Anxieties: 7. Does regular order produce a more deliberative Congress? Evidence from the annual appropriations process Lee Drutman and Peter Hanson; 8. Congress at work: legislative capacity and entrepreneurship in the contemporary Congress James Curry and Frances Lee; 9. Dumbing down? Trends in the complexity of political communication Kenneth Benoit, Kevin Munger and Arthur Spirling; Part III. Anxieties of Governance: 10. Public policy and political dysfunction: the policyscape, policy maintenance, and oversight Suzanne Mettler and Claire Leavitt; 11. The effects of partisan polarization on the bureaucracy David Spence; 12. Polarization and the changing American constitutional system Nolan McCarty.