Whether you agree with them or not (and people with a conservative or classical liberal perspective will find plenty with which to disagree), Christopher Cooper and Gibbs Knotts have compiled an interesting new book with The New Politics of North Carolina.
Its essays focus on North Carolina’s government structure, political party competition, media, lobbying and interest groups, and other elements of the state’s political picture.
Cooper and Knotts discussed key findings recently with the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. You’ll also hear them in an upcoming edition of Carolina Journal Radio.
I don’t think I’ll spoil the book for you by quoting its final passage, in which the author/editors compare North Carolina in 2008 to the post-World War II North Carolina described by political scientist V.O. Key:
Not surprisingly, the new politics of North Carolina differ substantially from politics during Key’s time. Two-party competition is alive and well, and increasing number of African American and women officeholders have changed the ways the state is governed. New voters are pouring into the state in record numbers, and these voters do not look like the old ones ? they are more likely to be Hispanic, less likely to be African American, more likely to have grown up in the Northeast, less likely to be born-again Christians, and more likely to have graduated from college. In addition, the emergence of new and different policy areas as provided opportunities for innovative Tar Heel politicians. At the same time, remnants of the old politics remain. Traditionalistic strands still exert influence, particularly in the realm of social issues and policy outcomes. Therefore, the new politics of North Carolina represents a combination of new and old. New opportunities and challenges have forced the state to change, but the old culture remains a powerful force.
