The Journal of Politics

Table of Contents - August 1998 - Volume 60, Issue 03  

Presidential Address

The Newest Southern Politics

Earl Blacka1

a1 Rice University

Abstract

The South's delegation to the House of Representatives has shifted from an old southern politics of one-party domination to a new southern politics based on increased two-party competition to the newest southern politics of the 1990s. Examination of the newest southern politics reveals a racial landscape based on black contributions and white shares in which there are three distinct paths to victory: the rule of white majorities for white Republicans, the rule of black majorities for black Democrats, and the rule of biracial coalitions for white Democrats. Each group of winners votes in distinctive patterns. Developments within the South have revitalized the national two-party battle for control of the House of Representatives.

Earl Black is professor of political science at Rice University, Houston, TX 77251-1892.