Taylor, Andrew J.

(Andres John Taylor)

PERSONAL:

Born in England. Education: University of Kent at Canterbury, England, B.A., 1988; Lehigh University, M.A., 1990; University of Connecticut, Ph.D., 1995.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Political Science, School of Public and International Affairs, North Carolina State University, Box 8102, Raleigh, NC 27695-8102; fax: 919-515-7333. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, political scientist, television and radio commentator, book reviewer, political consultant, and educator. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, assistant professor, 1995-2001, associate professor, 2001-07, professor of political science, 2007—, chair, department of political science, 2006—. North Carolina State Distance Education Program (cable TV educational program), instructor. University of Connecticut at Hartford, adjunct instructor, 1991-95. Frequent guest on television and radio programs. WUNC and WRAL-5 television and WPTF-680 radio, on-air political commentator. Frequent speaker and presenter at conference, symposia, and academic meetings.

MEMBER:

American Political Science Association, Midwest Political Science Association, Southern Political Science Association, North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

G. Lowell Field Fellowship, University of Connecticut, 1990; Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, University of Connecticut, 1991-93; Advanced Graduate Student Travel Grant, American Political Science Association, 1993; University of Connecticut Research Foundation Grant (with John T. Rourke), 1993; C-SPAN Faculty Development Grant, 1993; Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Connecticut, 1993; Oral Parks Award for Best Faculty Paper presented at 1996 North Carolina Political Science Association Meeting; North Carolina State University Research and Professional Development Grant, 1997; Lonnie and Carole Poole Award for Excellence in Teaching, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, North Carolina State University, 1998; North Carolina State University College of Humanities and Social Science's Outstanding Extension Service Award, 1999-200, 2003-04; Steiger Congressional Fellow, American Political Science Association, 2000; North Carolina State University Curriculum Development Grant, 2003; Dirksen Congressional Center Research Award, 2003; John William Pope Foundation Grant (with Steve Margolis), 2004.

WRITINGS:

Elephant's Edge: The Republicans as a Ruling Party, foreword by Norman J. Ornstein, Praeger Publishers (Westport, CT), 2005.

Contributor to books, including Survey of Social Science: Government and Politics Series, Salem Press (Pasadena, CA), 1995. Contributor to journals and periodicals, including the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Review of Policy Research, Party Politics, American Politics Quarterly, Southeastern Political Review, Polity, PS: Political Science and Politics, Public Perspective, Independent (London, England), and American Politics Research.

SIDELIGHTS:

Andrew J. Taylor is a British writer, political scientist, and educator based at North Carolina State University, where he is a professor of political science. He frequently appears on television and radio programs, and provides on-air political commentary for radio and TV outlets in North Carolina. He serves as a political analyst for media outlets and as a consultant for political campaigns and elected officials. He is frequently consulted by newspapers and broadcast media outlets for his political insights, and has been quoted in dozens of newspaper articles and other written pieces. In addition to his other work, Taylor is a prolific lecturer and public speaker who has given talks to clubs, civic groups, philanthropic organizations, religious groups, and academic associations.

Taylor's teaching centers on classes in American politics and covers subjects such as American government, the process of legislation in the United States, the relationship between the office of the president and congress, and the nature of public choice as applied to political institutions, noted a biographer on the North Carolina State University Political Science Department, School of Public and International Affairs Web site. In addition to his work in the classroom, Taylor is also involved in North Carolina State's distance education program, and serves as an instructor in classes presented on cable television outlets. His academic research centers on American governmental institutions, the biographer continued.

In Elephant's Edge: The Republicans as a Ruling Party, Taylor provides a "very good exploration of the current Republican hegemony in American politics," commented Wendy J. Schiller in the Political Science Quarterly. Further, Taylor analyzes how the Republican party has managed to enact its policies, enhance its power, and engender public cooperation without actually securing the "allegiance of an actual majority of voters," Schiller observed.

In the book, Taylor provides a "sturdy survey of the far-ranging efforts of the Republican Party" to create a political playing field that offers them the greatest advantage, noted New York Times Book Review critic Jacob Heilbrunn. Taylor points out that Republicans have not hesitated to rearrange laws and regulations to help them, and cites changes to the tax code as examples. He further notes that Republicans have been willing to exploit crises and tragic events, such as the heavily fraught and emotionally wrenching Terri Schiavo right-to-die case.

Taylor assesses other Republican strategies that have helped them retain and increase their power and influence. He notes that policy change and pork-barrel spending are favored tools. Redistricting geographical areas to create a greater Republic advantage has also been used. He discusses the Republic use of media outlets, think tanks, and other organizations to bolster Republican positions in the public eye, to offer credibility to Republican measures, and to present public support for Republican policies.

Taylor cautions readers that the apparent success of the modern Republican party is not, in his view, the result of a "fundamental realignment of the electorate" but is rather a function of a political climate in which "Republicans enjoy a narrow electoral edge over the Democrats," an edge that Republicans are willing and able to exploit, observed a critic in Reference & Research Book News. In the final section of the book, Taylor suggests that the Republican grip on power will not persist due to factors such as the party's internal struggles, Republican distaste for campaigning, and the party's tendency to dramatically overreach and attempt to seize additional power, persuasion, and influence.

Schiller noted that Elephant's Edge is "especially good in the sense that Taylor seamlessly brings together academic scholarship and journalistic accounts (and opinions) to draw a crisply constructed diagram of how the Republicans have succeeded so well in a relatively short period of time."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, May, 2006, A.D. McNitt, review of Elephant's Edge: The Republicans as a Ruling Party, p. 1679.

New York Times Book Review, December 25, 2005, Jacob Heilbrunn, "Nonfiction Chronicle," review of Elephant's Edge.

Political Science Quarterly, summer, 2006, Wendy J. Schiller, review of Elephant's Edge, p. 340.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2005, review of Elephant's Edge.

ONLINE

Andrew J. Taylor Home Page,http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/taylor (April 22, 2008).

Greenwood Publishing Group Web site,http://www.greenwood.com/ (April 22, 2008), author profile.

North Carolina State University Political Science Department, School of Public and International Affairs Web site,http://spia.chass.ncsu.edu/ (April 22, 2008), author's curriculum vitae.