The Folkways of Congress

Legislative Norms in an Era of Conflict

Brian Alexander

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780815740933
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

How are congressional norms changing, and what does their evolution mean for how Congress serves American democracy today?

Political scientists have long looked to the role of traditional norms to signal a general attitude among lawmakers that cooperation is part of their identities as members of Congress. But in this age of heightened political and partisan conflict, many "folkways" such as courtesy and reciprocity seem to be eroding, while other new norms are emerging.

This volume brings together leading congressional scholars to examine how norms have changed, what new norms are most prevalent in the modern Congress, and what effects norms have on the functioning of Congress in an era rife with political conflict. These essays address critical questions about how the U.S. Congress functions to serve American democracy and whether the functioning of Congress in the Twenty-first century is fundamentally different today from how the framers of the Constitution imagined it.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword Olympia Snowe, Former U.S. Senator, Maine
• Preface: Norms and the Character of Congress Daniel Lipinski, Former U.S. Representative, Illinois
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction: What We Talk About When We Talk About Norms Brian Alexander
• Part I Historical Norms in the Modern Context
• Part II New Norms for a New Era
• Afterword: The New Normal in Congress and Its Changing Norms Donald R. Wolfensberger
• Notes on Contributors
• Index
• Imprint