Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A new book edited by a veteran Mississippi State political scientist and a former university colleague casts some highly trained academic eyes on the dramatic growth of African-American representation in Southern state legislatures.
"Politics in the New South" is the work of professor Stephen D. Shaffer and Charles E. Menifield, a former faculty member in MSU's department of political science and public administration. Menifield now is an associate professor at the University of Memphis.
Divided into eight chapters, the 229-page book is written by Shaffer, Menifield and eight other scholars of the Southern political scene. A publication of the State University of New York Press, it is the latest volume in the SUNY Series in African-American Studies.
"Politics" examines how Southern blacks have achieved noticeable state-level power in the decades since Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Some specific topic areas include:
--Evolution of the Black Caucus,
--Rise of black legislators to important leadership positions, and
--Roll-call data on key votes from several legislative sessions in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas.
The book also examines the nature of legislative coalitions in these states during the last two decades of the 20th century, specifically as they relate to the representation of black interests.
"Southern state legislatures are fascinating institutions to study, since they serve as the nexus for intriguing forces of an empowered African-American populace, a rising Republican Party and a transformed white Democratic faction," the editors observe in the book's introductory chapter.
Shaffer, an Ohio State University doctoral graduate, has taught at MSU since 1979.
Co-author of "Mississippi Government and Politics," he is a widely recognized researcher in Mississippi politics and public opinion polling. He has written extensively on Mississippi party organizations and political campaigns, as well as national public opinion and federal elections.
Menifield, a native of the Mississippi Delta, holds bachelor's and master's degrees from MSU. A University of Missouri doctoral graduate, he left the Starkville campus to become a 2002-03 visiting scholar with the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C. He currently is working on "A Beginner's Guide to Practical Budgeting in State and Local Government."
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information on the new book, contact Dr. Shaffer at (662) 325-7861 or Kauai@ps.msstate.edu.