Author: Jamie L. CarsonPublisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 047213079X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 215
Book Description
Legislators in the 19th century behaved much as we expect legislators to behave today.
Electoral Incentives in Congress
Author: Jamie L. CarsonPublisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 047213079X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 215
Book Description
Legislators in the 19th century behaved much as we expect legislators to behave today.
Congress
Author: David R. MayhewPublisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300130010
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220
Book Description
"Any short list of major analyses of Congress must of necessity include David Mayhew’s Congress: The Electoral Connection." —Fred Greenstein In this second edition to a book that has achieved canonical status, David R. Mayhew argues that the principal motivation of legislators is reelection and that the pursuit of this goal affects the way they behave and the way that they make public policy. In a new foreword for this edition, R. Douglas Arnold discusses why the book revolutionized the study of Congress and how it has stood the test of time.
Insecure Majorities
Author: Frances E. LeePublisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022640918X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277
Book Description
“[A] tour de force. Building upon her argument in Beyond Ideology, she adds an important wrinkle into the current divide between the parties in Congress.” —Perspectives on Politics As Democrats and Republicans continue to vie for political advantage, Congress remains paralyzed by partisan conflict. That the last two decades have seen some of the least productive Congresses in recent history is usually explained by the growing ideological gulf between the parties, but this explanation misses another fundamental factor influencing the dynamic. In contrast to politics through most of the twentieth century, the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties compete for control of Congress at relative parity, and this has dramatically changed the parties’ incentives and strategies in ways that have driven the contentious partisanship characteristic of contemporary American politics. With Insecure Majorities, Frances E. Lee offers a controversial new perspective on the rise of congressional party conflict, showing how the shift in competitive circumstances has had a profound impact on how Democrats and Republicans interact. Beginning in the 1980s, most elections since have offered the prospect of a change of party control. Lee shows, through an impressive range of interviews and analysis, how competition for control of the government drives members of both parties to participate in actions that promote their own party’s image and undercut that of the opposition, including the perpetual hunt for issues that can score political points by putting the opposing party on the wrong side of public opinion. More often than not, this strategy stands in the way of productive bipartisan cooperation—and it is also unlikely to change as long as control of the government remains within reach for both parties.
Governing in a Polarized Age
Author: Alan S. GerberPublisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107095093
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Book Description
This volume provides an in-depth examination of representation and legislative performance in contemporary American politics.
Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress
Author: Jonathan LewallenPublisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472132067
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
The public, journalists, and legislators themselves have often lamented a decline in congressional lawmaking in recent years, often blaming party politics for the lack of legislative output. In Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress, Jonathan Lewallen examines the decline in lawmaking from a new, committee-centered perspective. Lewallen tests his theory against other explanations such as partisanship and an increased demand for oversight with multiple empirical tests and traces shifts in policy activity by policy area using the Policy Agendas Project coding scheme. He finds that because party leaders have more control over the legislative agenda, committees have spent more of their time conducting oversight instead. Partisanship alone does not explain this trend; changes in institutional rules and practices that empowered party leaders have created more uncertainty for committees and contributed to a shift in their policy activities. The shift toward oversight at the committee level combined with party leader control over the voting agenda means that many members of Congress are effectively cut out of many of the institution’s policy decisions. At a time when many, including Congress itself, are considering changes to modernize the institution and keep up with a stronger executive branch, the findings here suggest that strengthening Congress will require more than running different candidates or providing additional resources.
Electoral Incentives in Congress
Author: Jamie L. CarsonPublisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472123750
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215
Book Description
David Mayhew’s 1974 thesis on the “electoral connection” and its impact on legislative behavior is the theoretical foundation for research on the modern U.S. Congress. Mayhew contends that once in office, legislators pursue the actions that put them in the best position for reelection. Carson and Sievert examine how electoral incentives shaped legislative behavior throughout the nineteenth century by looking at patterns of turnover in Congress; the renomination of candidates; the roles of parties in recruiting candidates and their broader effects on candidate competition; and, finally by examining legislators’ accountability. The results have wide-ranging implications for the evolution of Congress and the development of legislative institutions over time.
Electoral System Design
Author: Andrew ReynoldsPublisher: Stockholm : International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Publisher Description
Electoral College Reform
Author: Thomas H. NealePublisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437925693
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 34
Book Description
Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Competing Approaches: Direct Popular Election v. Electoral College Reform; (3) Direct Popular Election: Pro and Con; (4) Electoral College Reform: Pro and Con; (5) Electoral College Amendments Proposed in the 111th Congress; (6) Contemporary Activity in the States; (7) 2004: Colorado Amendment 36; (8) 2007-2008: The Presidential Reform Act (California Counts); (9) 2006-Present: National Popular Vote -- Direct Popular Election Through an Interstate Compact; Origins; The Plan; National Popular Vote, Inc.; Action in the State Legislatures; States That Have Approved NPV; National Popular Vote; (10) Prospects for Change -- An Analysis; (11) State Action -- A Viable Reform Alternative?; (12) Concluding Observations.
The Realities of Redistricting
Author: Jonathan WinburnPublisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739121856
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
This book tests the effectiveness of political control and neutral rules on limiting partisan gerrymandering in state legislative redistricting. Specifically, the book examines the 2000 redistricting process in eight states_Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Washington.
Party Ballots, Reform, and the Transformation of America's Electoral System
Author: Erik J. EngstromPublisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107050391
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 245
Book Description
This book demonstrates that nineteenth-century electoral politics were the product of institutions that prescribed how votes were cast and were converted into political offices.