University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons CUREJ - College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal College of Arts and Sciences 4-8-2011 Bringing Down the House: The Causes and Effects of the Decline of Personal Relationships in the U.S. House of Representatives Evan Philipson University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/curej Part of the American Politics Commons Recommended Citation Philipson, Evan, "Bringing Down the House: The Causes and Effects of the Decline of Personal Relationships in the U.S. House of Representatives" 08 April 2011. CUREJ: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal, University of Pennsylvania, https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/141. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/141 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Bringing Down the House: The Causes and Effects of the Decline of Personal Relationships in the U.S. House of Representatives Abstract Over the past 35 years, personal relationships have declined among members of the United States House of Representatives. In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, polarization and partisanship have risen on Capitol Hill, only to be exacerbated by the impact of Newt Gingrich and the 1994 Republican Revolution. As a result of this increased polarization and partisanship, members of Congress are less able and less willing to forge the personal relationships that are necessary for Congress to function. These relationships make Congress more effective as an institution and result in the body passing more productive legislation. In the absence of these close social bonds, Congress is less effective and does not function the way that it ought to.