American Political Development

American Political Development (APD) is the interdisciplinary study of the deep historical roots of politics in the United States. This new approach to the study of politics digs beneath the familiar surface of presidential succession, elections, and political parties. Scholars in the fields of history, political science, and political sociology have offered important new interpretations of the nation's political past, especially through the study of broad theoretical questions arising from the expansion of national administrative power and the rise of the welfare state.

Although respectful of traditional approaches to the study of political history, scholars of American Political Development tend to place more emphasis on:

how major reform eras were influenced, and in turn transformed by, constitutional principles and institutional arrangements;

how changes in constitutional principles and institutional arrangements have affected civil culture;

the relationship between national institutions and political associations such as interest groups and political parties; and

how political change and the recasting of national institutions have affected the formulation and administration of public policy.

The American Political Development website is a joint undertaking of the Miller Center for Public Affairs' American Political Development Program and the scholars of the American Political History Initiative. The purpose of this site is to facilitate the study of American Political Development by bringing together a wide variety of resources for APD scholars in one easily accessible source.

The two major sections of this site are the American Political Development 'Town Square' and 'Electronic Classroom.' The 'Electronic Classroom' will provide links to resources on the web for those teaching APD at the college level. Resources will include primary source links, syllabi, exam and assignment questions from other scholars engaged in teaching APD related courses, all categorized by topic. The goal of the 'Electronic Classroom' is to make readily available a wide variety of teaching resources and facilitate the use of multimedia sources for those teaching American political history.

The APD 'Town Square' will gather information and links relevant to APD scholars including newly published articles and papers from a variety of journals and presses; conference and professional notices; links to relevant journals and journal articles. The APD 'Town Square' will also host electronic discussion Forums on timely topics relevant to the APD field.