bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Compulsory Voting, Invalid Ballots, and Abstention in Brazil
Authors: Power Timothy J. , Roberts J. Timmons
Published: January 2007

This paper explores the determinants of invalid ballots and abstention in the world's largest electorate subject to compulsory voting. Previous analysts have seen blank and spoiled ballots either as an expression of po litical protest or as a product of the social structure. To these interpreta tions we add the hypothesis that invalid voting can be caused by institutional factors. In studying twelve legislative elections in Brazil be tween 1945 and 1990, we find that for each of three dependent variables considered (invalid votes for both houses of Congress, and noncompliant abstention), a model incorporating political, socioeconomic, and institu tional factors is more powerful than a model relying on any one of these alone. We also provide evidence that Brazil's unusual system of open-list proportional representation generates institutional features which serve as barriers impeding the effective incorporation of newly enfranchised voters. The extraordinarily high rates of invalid balloting in recent Brazilian elec tions point to the necessity of institutional reform in order to achieve democratic consolidation, with important implications for other new democracies.
Incumbency, Reapportionment, and U.S. House Redistricting
Authors: Lyons Michael , Galderisi Peter F
Published: January 2007

In this study we examine how party controlled redistricting in 1991-92 affected the fortunes of U.S. House incumbents in the 1992 election. We explore the strategic differences between the partisan redistricting plans implemented unilaterally by one party, and the bipartisan plans im plemented as the result of party compromise, arguing that effective analysis of incumbency advantage requires distinction between these two types of plans as well as distinction between the plans of states that gain seats, states that lose seats, and states that remain unchanged in reapportion ment. We then assess incumbency advantage under the partisan and bipartisan plans by comparing incumbent displacement rates under these plans with the displacement rates under politically neutral nonpartisan dis tricting plans. Our findings indicate that incumbents do indeed benefit from party controlled redistricting and more so under bipartisan than un der partisan redistricting. They also indicate that the gain or loss of seats from reapportionment influences substantially the consequences of redis tricting for incumbents.
Candidates, Money, and Voters-Assessing the State of Congressional Elections Research
Authors: Squire Peverill
Published: January 2007

In this field essay I summarize recent findings on congressional elections with an eye toward identifying the gaps, contradictions, and questions that still remain. I organize the discussion around three related topics: candi dates, campaign finance, and voters. I examine our understanding of who runs and who does not run for Congress, and raise questions about the notion of challenger quality and how it has been measured. My focus then shifts to a discussion of the effects of money in congressional elections, highlighting unresolved questions about the influence of incumbent spending on election outcomes. I then examine the literature on voters in congressional elections, bringing together work that ties candidates and campaigns to their effects on individual voting decisions. I then conclude the essay by discussing how different research approaches might advance our understanding of congressional elections.
Motivational Orientation and the Nature of Consensual Decision Processes: A Triangulated Approach
Authors: Gaenslen Fritz
Published: January 2007

Area specialists have observed that one way elite decision processes can vary is in the proportion of the decision-making group seen as necessary to support group action: decision-makers can aim for consensus, or they can aim for less inclusive support. Is this distinction of theoretical sig nificance ? I argue that it is through an examination of three sources: (1) rational-choice analyses of unanimity and majority rules; (2) social psy chological studies of the effects of these rules in the laboratory; and (3) descriptions of dispute resolution processes as these appear in Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and American fiction. These sources indicate that con sensual decision processes tend either to inhibit collective action, induce cognitive effort and commitment, or promote particular definitions of issues depending on the motivational orientation of decision-makers-on whether they are interest-maximizers, information-processors, or social beings. This conclusion, I argue, has broad implications for the study of elite decision making.
Public Interest Group Entrepreneurship and Theories of Group Mobilization
Authors: Nownes Anthony J. , Neeley Grant
Published: January 2007

The bulk of the literature on group mobilization focuses on why individu als join groups and virtually ignores the group leader (entrepreneur). Thus, we argue that there is a gap in the literature on group development: while entrepreneurs are critical in the process of group mobilization, little is known about what they do and why and how they do it. Studies of group mobilization continue to focus on group supporters-the patrons and members who provide groups with the resources they need. We take a different approach. We examine the process of group mobilization from the perspective of the entrepreneur. Utilizing data from a survey of public interest group founders we test the effectiveness of three theories of group formation. Our analysis leads to four basic conclusions: (1) We should reject any strong version of Jack Walker's argument about the importance of patrons in group mobilization. While many public interest groups do form at the behest of patrons, most do not. (2) Most public interest groups form because aggressive, independent entrepreneurs form them. The large number of groups which cannot trace their origins to patrons or distur bances attests to the importance of entrepreneurs in group formation. (3) Many public interest group founders form groups in response to specific and easily identifiable events or series of events. Disturbances may not spur individuals to join groups, but they play an important role in stimulating entrepreneurial activity. (4) The "free-rider" problem is not operative for most groups "just starting out." Our data suggest that individuals-especially entrepreneurs and their friends-are the driving force behind public interest group formation.
City Bound: Political Science and the American Metropolis
Authors: Danielson Michael N. , Lewis Paul G.
Published: January 2007

The study of urban politics was once central to the political science dis cipline in the United States. As central cities have lost their dominant posi tion in the metropolis, however, political science's urbanists have remained fixated on the conflicts and crises of the urban core, while largely ignoring urban politics that occurs outside the city limits. This focus has resulted in a skewed understanding of urban America, and may limit the analytical contributions of the field as well. We review the development of the urban politics literature and offer some explanations for its preoccupation with big cities. We argue that work in this field would be better integrated if urban politics were reconceptualized as the politics of urbanization. We sug gest some new theoretical and substantive contributions that such an ap proach would permit, and emphasize that the politics of urbanization cannot be fully understood in city-bound analysis.
Intentionalism in Constitutional Opinions
Authors: Gates John B. , Phelps Glenn A.
Published: January 2007

This study examines the extent and ways in which two ideologically dis parate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court rely upon the intent of the fram ers of the Constitution in their opinions on constitutional questions. A content analysis of the complete opinions written by Justices Brennan and Rehnquist over a ten-year period reveals that not only do they not differ in their relative use of intentionalism but they also very rarely use original intent as the controlling argument in their opinions. We examine as well the justices' historiography. Finally, a systematic examination of all opin ions shows that the two justices consistently use intentionalism in support of quite different ideological outcomes. We discuss the quantitative and interpretive findings in light of debates over constitutional interpretation and explanations of judicial decision making.
Before the Roll Call: Interest Group Lobbying and Public Policy Outcomes in House Committees
Authors: Evans Diana
Published: January 2007

This research examines the relationship between interest group activities and the public policy decisions of congressional committees. Unlike the conventional approach, which estimates the relationship between interest group resources and legislators' roll-call votes, the technique used here treats as the dependent variable interest group success at getting what they want from committees on their individual policy preferences. This approach has the unusual advantage of allowing systematic investigation of deci sions made behind the scenes which never come to a formal vote. It also facilitates estimation of the relationship between policy outcomes and lob bying directed at committee staff as well as members, and allows evalua tion of the effect of contextual variables, especially conflict. A model of interest group success on dozens of provisions of two complex bills was estimated. Although conflict among groups dampened interest group suc cess, lobbying committee staff was associated with group success. How ever, even under the decision-making condition expected to be most favorable to interest groups, virtually complete public invisibility, interest groups did not always get their way with congressional committees.
Industrial Work and Political Participation: Beyond "Simple Spillover"
Authors: Greenberg Edward S. , Grunberg Leon , Daniel Kelley
Published: January 2007

We suggest that the "simple political spillover" hypothesis—that participation in decision making at work increases the probability of participating in poli tics outside the workplace—ought to be respecified in such a way that it takes into account (1) the possible differential effects on political participation of direct and representational forms of decisional participation at work; (2) the possibility that the pathway between workplace and political participation is mediated by the former's impact on psychological outlooks; and (3) the pos sibility that participation in decision making in economically troubled enter prises may diminish political participation. Using a sample of 1,247 workers from producer cooperative, employee stock ownership, conventional union, and conventional non-union wood products mills, we show that this more complex spillover model gives us a better understanding of the linkages be tween workplace and political experiences.
Homo Economus? Economic Information and Economic Voting
Authors: Holbrook Thomas , Garand James C.
Published: January 2007

Although retrospective economic voting does not require voters to have precise information about recent economic conditions, it is arguably the case that the quality of retrospective voting as a democratic accountability mechanism hinges on the degree to which citizens have reasonably accu rate perceptions of the state of the economy In this paper we test a model of the accuracy of individuals' perceptions of national economic condi tions. Utilizing data collected in a survey of residents of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, during the 1992 presidential campaign, we depict perceptual accuracy as a function of four sets of independent variables: (1) personal characteristics likely to enhance citizens' political and economic cognition; (2) perceptions of economic threat; (3) interest in politics and/or econom ics ; and (4) exposure to media sources. Our findings point to the impor tance of personal characteristics, such as socioeconomic status, gender, race, and age, as well as retrospective personal evaluations, political inter est, and media exposure in determining the accuracy of citizens' economic perceptions. Moreover, we provide preliminary evidence that perceptual inaccuracy has an indirect effect on vote choice in 1992 through its effect on retrospective sociotropic economic evaluations.
The Weight of the Past: Exploring Lagged Determinants of Political Repression
Authors: Davenport Christian
Published: January 2007

The present article investigates contemporaneous and lagged effects of de mocracy, coercive capacity, and political conflict on repressive behavior. As designed, 51 countries from 1948 to 1982 are examined with an Almon distributed lag model on yearly data (N =1820). From the empirical inves tigation, both short- and long-term relationships are found to be signifi cantly related to the rate at which censorship and political restrictions are applied. Past values of democracy are found to affect repression negatively for five years and past values of dissident behavior are found to affect re pression positively for seven years. I conclude that a relatively complex memory structure, encompassing both short- and long-term explanations, must be employed when one attempts to understand why states use re pressive behavior.
Nullification via Dual Federalism A Second Response to Professor Gillman
Authors: Mendelson Wallace
Published: January 2007

"Marshall indicated [in Gibbons] that in his view, congressional power to regulate 'commercial intercourse' extended to all activity having any in terstate impact-however indirect." Lawrence R Tribe
New Research on Gendered Political Institutions
Authors: Kenney Sally J.
Published: January 2007

This essay reviews four texts that analyze women in political institutions in order to develop a more general theory of gendered institutions. Scholar ship on women in political institutions will be advanced by continuing to look beyond the confines of the traditional subfields of political science, drawing on interdisciplinary work in feminist theory, critical race theory, and the sociology of work. Gender should be theorized, not as a word that is interchangeable with sex, but as a continuous, variable, and tenacious process that, while usually leading to women's disadvantage, is challenged, negotiated, subverted, and resisted. Such scholarship should explore how masculinity, work, and politics are intertwined.
Presidential Agenda Setting: Influences on the Emphasis of Foreign Policy
Authors: Andrade Lydia , Young Garry
Published: January 2007

Presidential power is significantly augmented by the ability to influence the political agenda. However, we know little about the factors leading presidents to pursue particular issues over others. In this analysis we ex amine the influences on presidential emphasis of foreign policy Using a Poisson regression analysis of speeches over the period 1953-93, we find that a number of different contextual factors including approval, presiden tial influence in Congress, and international events affect presidential em phasis on foreign policy
Personal Economic Well-Being and the Individual Vote for Congress: A Pooled Analysis, 1980-1990
Authors: Romero David W. , Stambough Stephen J.
Published: January 2007

For nearly two decades congressional elections scholars have struggled to match individual-level findings for the pocketbook voting thesis with ag gregate-level findings. Whereas strong and consistent support can be found for the pocketbook thesis in presidential elections with both individual- level and aggregate-level data, significant support has been found for this thesis in U.S. House elections with aggregate-level data only. The typical individual-level congressional elections study examines a single election or series of single elections. We take an alternative approach. By pooling elections from 1980 to 1990, this inquiry demonstrates that retrospective pocketbook assessments indeed influence the individual's vote in congres sional elections. The benefit this result brings to the elections literature is symmetry between the findings for presidential elections and congressional elections regarding the decision rule voters follow when weighing eco nomic conditions when they vote.
Fund-raising in Presidential Nomination Campaigns: The Primary Lessons of 1988
Authors: Hinckley Katherine A. , Green John C.
Published: January 2007

This article presents an exploratory analysis of the flow of funds raised in American presidential nomination campaigns. Using detailed financial data for all the major party candidates in the 1988 presidential contest, we ex plicate and test two rival models of fund-raising: A "campaign-driven" model, which ties the fund-raising success to performance in the cam paign itself, often in the form of momentum; and an "organization-driven" model, which ties it to the quality of candidates' political bases and fund raising efforts. We find much more support for the latter model. Most can didates' funds are raised before the start of the primary season; the patterns of fund-raising remain largely stable even during the primary season; and variations are largely a function of fund-raising efforts rather than poll stand ings, campaign events, or even primary/caucus performance. Though spe cific primaries and caucuses do sometimes affect fund-raising, the impact is typically modest and short-lived. These findings suggest that at least under current campaign conditions, candidates should give priority to building fund-raising organizations rather than relying on campaign per formance to provide monetary momentum.
Diminished Giant or Vanguard for Liberalization? The U.S. and the Regionalization of Trade
Authors: Blanton Robert G.
Published: January 2007

Preferential trading arrangements, in the form of regional blocs, have emerged as a popular policy tool for the United States. Blocs are viewed by some policymakers and scholars as an effective defensive measure for shor ing up declining U.S. economic power. Others view blocs as a more prac tical first step toward multilateral liberalization. Critics of blocs view them as a suboptimal solution to economic problems which at best diverts time and resources better spent working toward multilateralism and at worst encourages protectionism, distrust, and confusion among states. This study seeks to examine the consequences of such policies for U.S. trading behav ior. More specifically, U.S. trading patterns are examined, within the con text of the global trading order, to determine the extent to which the U.S. is a regional or a global actor. Covering the period from 1950 to 1990, this study employs asymmetric multidimensional scaling to spatially place U.S. trading patterns in the world trading order. Results indicate that U.S. trad ing patterns are "global" with respect to developed states.
The Many Faces of Locke in America's Early Nineteenth-Century Democratic Philosophy
Authors: Scalia Laura J.
Published: January 2007

In this article debates among early nineteenth-century politicians regard ing America's commitments to rights and popular government are exam ined. Rather than attribute ideological differences to the influence of alternative intellectual traditions, the author argues that divergent perspec tives on these commitments are best understood as alternative interpreta tions of Locke's Second Treatise. Nineteenth-century politicians may not have read this text, but their arguments parallel important aspects of it. Politicians who wanted to expand the people's power argued that nature and higher law mandated both personal and political rights. Their argu ments resemble those of the radical democratic Locke which Ashcraft (1986) describes. Those against increasing popular power argued that people left the state of nature to protect life, liberty, and especially property. Their arguments resemble the traditional Locke of Grant (1989) and the bour geois Locke of Macpherson (1962). Ongoing debates among scholars of the Second Treatise verify that Locke has many faces; nineteenth-century American political thought mirrors those ambiguities.
Up Close and Personal: Campaign Contact and Candidate Spending in U.S. House Elections
Authors: Kenny Christopher , McBurnett Michael
Published: January 2007

Very little evidence exists on which forms of voter contact have the greatest impact on election outcomes. In this article we attempt to assess systemati cally the effect of different forms of voter contact on congressional vote choice. By estimating a system of equations for spending and vote choice with three different forms of personal and media contact we are able to investigate how different forms of contact directly affect the vote choice as well as mediate the impact of candidate spending. We find that incum bents and challengers benefit differently from the different forms of con tact. Challengers tend to get a bigger direct effect from contact in general probably because as a group they are less well known than incumbents. Incumbents, on the other hand, seem able to use contact through the me dia to maintain their advantage. Contact through television enhances the effect of spending to a much greater extent than is true for challengers, suggesting that incumbents who reach a large percentage of the electorate are difficult to beat.
Partisan Differences in Candidate Quality in Open Seat House Races, 1976-1994
Authors: Bond Jon R. , Fleisher Richard , Talbert Jeffery C.
Published: January 2007

This article builds on previous research with an analysis of partisan differ ences in the emergence of politically experienced candidates in open seat House races from 1976 to 1994. Consistent with previous research, we find that local partisan forces-the normal vote in the district and the party hold ing the seat-are the most important determinants of whether experienced candidates emerge in open seat races. But we find that Republicans are more sensitive to local partisan forces than Democrats, indicating that experienced Republicans run mainly in districts favorable to Republicans, whereas Demo crats run for open seats in a wider range of districts. And contrary to previous research, we discover that a national condition-presidential popularity-is significantly related to the emergence of experienced Republicans in open seats. These results reveal that we need to look for different relationships across the parties. Because we suspected that the relationships might have changed in recent elections, we compared relationships in 1976-90 and 1992- 94. This analysis indicates that the relationships found in previous elections may have changed. In 1992-94, the emergence of experienced Democrats was significantly affected only by the party holding the seat, whereas the emergence of experienced Republicans was not significantly influenced by either local partisan condition.
The Structure of Attitudes Toward Groups: A Comparison of Experts and Novices
Authors: Zinni Frank P. , Mattei Franco , Rhodebeck Laurie A.
Published: January 2007

The study of mass opinion has recently focused increased attention on political sophistication and attitudes toward groups. Although the two topics are not directly related, they share a common concern: how does the mass public manage to form opinions about political issues given its well-established lack of a coherent political ideology. Groups are impor tant symbols that structure political reasoning; but, it is not clear that this structure is the same for people with different levels of political aware ness. On the one hand, the sophistication hypothesis has found low lev els of political sophistication associated with poorly organized issue attitudes and ideological naïveté. On the other hand, research supporting the group hypothesis suggests that groups may provide even the least politically sophisticated with a coherent view of the political world. To test these ideas we draw upon data from the 1980 and 1984 studies of delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions and the National Election Studies of the same year. We find, in agreement with the preponderance of evidence in the literature on political sophisti cation, that the structure of attitudes toward groups becomes more ideo logical as the level of political sophistication increases. Furthermore, we argue that with decreasing levels of political sophistication comes a greater reliance on emotion as a guide to the political world.
Implications of Political Expertise in Candidate Trait Evaluations
Authors: Funk Carolyn L.
Published: January 2007

Candidate trait images have an important impact on global judgment. The present study addresses (1) which traits matter in candidate evalua tions and (2) political expertise differences in trait-based evaluations. An unweighted version of the on-line processing model would suggest that all traits impact the running tally in equal measure. Others have argued that some traits (in particular, more task-relevant traits) should matter more than others from a normative perspective. Furthermore, some past research has suggested that all individuals use traits in the same manner on the grounds that trait judgments of others are common in everyday experience. Greater cognitive complexity among political experts, how ever, would suggest that experts should be more likely to differentiate between traits in judgment. The present study uses an experimental de sign to manipulate candidate trait images on two dimensions: compe tence and warmth. Results show that candidate competence is preferred over warmth, although this preference is only evident among political experts. The pattern of results suggests that political experts make more distinctions between trait content dimensions, consistent with a greater cognitive complexity among experts. These results provide direct evi dence that citizens distinguish among candidate trait qualities and tend to evaluate competence more favorably than warmth.
Presidential Popularity in Central America: Parallels with the United States
Authors: Cuzán Alfred G. , Bundrick Charles M.
Published: January 2007

This article builds on our previous work, which showed that presiden tial popularity in Costa Rica is responsive to economic conditions. Here the analysis covers, in addition to Costa Rica, four sister republics which only recently have undergone democratization. We find that, as in the United States, presidential popularity in Central America rises and falls with the state of the economy Also as in the United States, presidential popularity in Central America is cyclical, higher early and late in the presi dential term. As new and tenuous as democracy is in most of the region, when it comes to rating presidents, Central Americans appear to use the same criteria as voters in the United States.
Specialized Courts of Appeals' Review of Bureaucratic Actions and the Politics of Protectionism
Authors: Unah Isaac
Published: January 2007

Specialized courts are historically thought to serve only policy-neutral objectives. In the research presented here, I reexamine this widespread belief. The article analyzes the interaction between the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized circuit court, and bureaucratic agen cies to attempt to determine the Court's impact on U.S. trade policy out comes. Using dumping and foreign government subsidization cases brought to court in the 1980s, I develop and test an attribute model of judicial protectionism, encapsulating economic, political, and contextual legal circumstances surrounding international trade cases. The most no table findings are that the Federal Circuit shows a significant proclivity toward protecting U.S. industries against unfair trade practices of foreign competitors, suggesting that, contrary to previous thinking, specialized courts have far more than policy-neutral effects. Also, the International Trade Commission performs remarkably better in court than does the Department of Commerce due to the Commission's courtlike decisional strategy and independent political status. Finally, my model offers strong support for both political and case-related explanations of regulatory ac tivity, showing, e.g., that industry political power and organizational ability condition trade judges' decisions to dispense regulatory protection.
How Media Frames Move Public Opinion: An Analysis of the Women's Movement
Authors: Terkildsen Nayda , Schnell Frauke
Published: January 2007

We examine the weekly print media's coverage of the women's move ment and ascertain the presence of five unique frames from the 1950s through the 1990s: a sex roles frame, a feminism frame, political rights frame, economic rights frame, and an anti-feminism frame. After describ ing the frames we discuss an experimental test of four of the media pack ages on voters' political attitudes using a non-random sample of adults. Experimental results indicate that the economic rights and anti-feminism frames had a strong, negative impact on subject attitudes toward gender equality, support for women's rights, support for non-traditional gender roles and the frequency with which subjects mentioned "women's issues" as among the most important issues facing the U.S. In addition, the femi nism frame also exerted negative effects; while, conversely, the political rights frame had a positive influence on similar gender attitudes. Results were moderated by respondent gender with men demonstrating greater susceptibility to issue framing than women.
Testing Foreign Policy Belief Structures of the American Public in the Post-Cold War Period: Gross Validations from Two National Surveys
Authors: Richman Alvin , Malone Eloise , Nolle David B.
Published: January 2007

The basic attitudinal structure underlying the American public's for eign policy preferences is assessed by using both exploratory and confir matory factor analyses on two major post-cold war surveys containing many similarly worded questions-by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CC, 10/94) and the Times Mirror Center (TM, 9/93). Although previous studies had stressed only two or three primary attitudinal fac tors and usually ignored factor intercorrelations, our exploratory analy ses of these data sets consistently yielded at least four distinct and readily interpretable factors, including two correlated "outward-focused" factors (Global Altruism and U.S. Global Interest), a U.S. Domestic issues factor bearing on foreign policy (e.g., jobs protection), and a Military Security factor. Building upon these results, confirmatory factor analyses using LISREL found that a four-factor model provided probabilistically close fits to both the CC and TM data sets and that accuracy of fits declined with various simpler models.
On Behalf of the Condemned? The Impact of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Capital Punishment Decision Making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals
Authors: Tauber Steven C.
Published: January 2007

There is a rich history of scholarship demonstrating that interest groups have influenced judicial policymaking, but there has not been a system atic test of whether a single group has contributed to case outcomes over an entire policy area while controlling for other elements of judicial deci sion making. Additionally, the degree to which extra-legal factors domi nate a group's ability to influence judicial policy has not been explored sufficiently Finally, there needs to be an empirical test of the extent to which elements of judicial decision making affect an interest group's choice to litigate. This study examines these questions by assessing the NAACP- Legal Defense and Education Fund's (LDF) contribution to the popula tion of 217 capital punishment cases decided in the U.S. Courts of Appeals. This article finds that when considered in light of the judicial decision making context, the LDF is not a significant factor influencing case out comes. Moreover, an interaction model suggests that the LDF's ability to affect case outcomes is controlled largely by extra-legal factors. Finally, there is no evidence that the LDF's decision to litigate follows a pattern based on this judicial decisionmaking context. These findings should prompt future scholars researching a group's litigation campaign to ex amine his/her subject in the framework of the judicial decision-making process instead of in isolation.
Falling into a Niche: Institutional Equilibrium Between Plurality and Proportional Representation for Large Political Parties
Authors: Jesse Neal
Published: January 2007

Scholars of electoral systems (e.g., Duverger 1954; Rae 1967) argue that a combination of electoral system and district magnitude provides the strategic incentives for political party competition. All electoral sys tems reward large parties with a disproportional seat bonus, with this bonus being more pronounced in plurality/majority systems. Thus, large parties invariably wish to compete in majoritarian systems while smaller parties seek a proportional system of seat allocation. This study shows that an institutional "niche" develops in some party systems where the second-largest party prefers the current electoral system over either a more proportional or more majoritarian system. Specifically, I illustrate how parties in Irish, Tasmanian, Australian House, and Australian Senate elec tions occupy such an equilibrium. Vote transfers create a seat bonus that does not exist in either more proportional or more majoritarian systems (e.g., the Single Non-Transferable Vote).
Policy Congruence Between the President and the Solicitor General
Authors: Meinhold Stephen S. , Shull Steven A.
Published: January 2007

This article examines the policy attention and ideological congruence between solicitors general and their appointing presidents. It builds on previous research by presenting an alternative way of measuring presi dential policy preferences that varies within administrations and offers an empirical test of the congruence between presidents and their appoin tees. Presidential attention to four policy areas and the ideological direc tion of that attention through their public statements is examined to see whether chief executives' rhetoric corresponds to the filing of discretion ary amicus curiae briefs by solicitors general. We find that presidential statements are an important predictor of discretionary solicitor general behavior. Thus, solicitors general are responsive to the policy attentive ness and the ideological preferences of the chief executives who appoint them.
Presidential Power and the United States Supreme Court
Authors: Yates Jeff , Whitford Andrew
Published: January 2007

In this study we build upon the work of Ducat and Dudley's 1989 examination of presidential power and the federal judiciary. Whereas they focused upon presidential fortunes before the federal district courts in cases involving the formal constitutional and statutory powers of the presi dent, we apply a similar model to the voting records of United States Supreme Court Justices in such presidential power cases. Additionally, we offer an extended model of justice voting on presidential power cases that we believe affords a better explanation of the decision-making pro cess. We find that justices' decisions to support the president are condi tioned upon presidents' public approval ratings and the justices' ideological inclinations. We also find that presidents receive more voting support in cases involving foreign policy and military affairs than in domestic/non military cases, thus lending support to the "two presidencies" thesis.
Resurrecting the Pluralist Universe
Authors: Schlosberg David
Published: January 2007

Pluralism has seen a major revival in the recent theoretical literature. After years of thorough critique, a purge of sorts, and, finally, relative obscurity, political and social theorists have begun to resurrect pluralist themes, even if they often do not acknowledge the term. The argument here is that much within this resurrection—conscious or unconscious— owes something to an articulation of pluralism that existed before the postwar, liberal variant that is so often seen as the whole of political plu ralism. Theorists such as William James and Mary Parker Follett initiated an examination of pluralist themes before being interrupted, and ignored, by the postwar generation. This essay focuses first on the contemporary resurrection of the epistemological foundation of pluralist thought, what James called "radical empiricism." It then goes on to examine two key issues, central to early pluralists, that have been revived and expanded upon by recent theorists: the tension in reconciling pluralist difference with political unity, and the difficulties in designing ethics and practices of communication across the diversity endemic to pluralism.
Representative Bureaucracy: The Theoretical Implications of Statistical Interaction
Authors: Hindera John J. , Young Cheryl D.
Published: January 2007

This research extends our knowledge of the relationship between passive representative bureaucracy and active representative bureaucracy (Mosher 1968). We utilize data from the United States Equal Employment Opportu nity Commission (EEOC) to posit and test a theory of situational thresholds. Our theory is premised on the argument that Meier's (1993b) construct, criti cal mass, constitutes a particular example of a more general concept, situ ational threshold (Campbell 1963). We present evidence that three situational thresholds exist in the EEOC bureaucratic environment which determine the nature of the relationship between passive representativeness and active rep resentation : when a critical mass is reached; when a group constitutes a plu rality ; and when a group constitutes a majority In toto, these three situational thresholds delineate four distinct social environments in which active repre sentation transpires. Our findings strongly suggest that the relationship be tween passive representation and active representation is fundamentally different for each type of bureaucratic environment.
Why Do Party Activists Convert? An Analysis of Individual-Level Change on the Abortion Issue
Authors: Layman Geoffrey C. , Carsey Thomas M.
Published: January 2007

The conversion of continuing party activists to new policy positions plays an important role in the process of partisan change. Although a number of scholars have shown that conversion among continuing activ ists at the aggregate level contributes to overall ideological change within the parties, political scientists have devoted little attention to the factors associated with attitudinal conversion among individual activists. In this article, we develop a model of the individual-level conversion process and test it using panel data on the abortion attitudes of a national sample of continuing party activists. The results indicate that a number of factors distinguish those activists who convert as their parties' ideological posi tions change from those activists who do not. These factors include an activist's candidate preferences and general ideological orientations, the religious and political groups to which an activist belongs, the types of incentives that motivate an activist's political activity, and the political environment in the party in an activist's home state.
Divided Government and the Passage of Partisan Legislation, 1947-1990
Authors: Thorson Gregory R.
Published: January 2007

Recent literature has provided some evidence that the presence of di vided government does not affect the amount of significant legislation passed by Congress and enacted into law (Mayhew 1991). In this article, I argue that although there may not be a difference in the absolute num ber of bills passed during unified and divided periods, there nevertheless may be an important difference in the formation of coalitions1 during divided and unified periods. Specifically, I argue that party unity votes that favor the dominant party 2 are more likely to form on final votes of passage during periods of unified government. I use regression analysis and probit analysis to determine if there is empirical support for this hypothesized difference in coalition formation. I find that the presence of unified government significantly increases the likelihood that a bill will pass through Congress with a party unity vote favoring the dominant party The estimates are statistically significant for both the House and the Senate.
International Crises and Linkage Politics: The Experiences of the United States, 1953-1994
Authors: James Patrick , Sebastien Rioux Jean
Published: January 2007

This study assesses the effects of U.S. involvement in international cri ses on the domestic popularity of American presidents for all major classes of voters. Using a time series analysis of monthly presidential approval and crisis involvement between 1953 and 1994, and controlling for eco nomic conditions and structural features of presidential popularity, it is apparent that crisis activity does increase the president's popularity, albeit by a very small margin. This result holds for both overall approval levels and within each president's "ruling coalition" of partisans as well as inde pendent voters; opposition party voters generally do not "rally 'round the flag." The small rally effect for crisis activity diminishes, however, when the U.S. president uses force, and when the Soviets are not involved. Furthermore, the rally effect actually seems to depend on the level of presidential response to a crisis; higher levels of response would account for rally effects. Taking the analysis one step further, it is revealed that outcomes of international crises (that is, how the U.S. fared) generally do not affect presidential popularity, even when examined with various lags. The investigation concludes with suggestions for further research on link age politics.
Judicial Policymaking in Published and Unpublished Decisions: The Case of Environmental Civil Ligaton
Authors: Ringquist Evan J. , Emmert Craig E.
Published: January 2007

While recent research has improved dramatically our understanding of appellate judicial behavior in constitutional and criminal law, we know comparatively little about the majority of the decisions made by the federal judiciary: civil case decisions in federal district courts. Moreover, by relying upon published cases exclusively, this research may misrepresent those forces influencing the majority of judicial decisions. We address these shortcomings by outlining an integrated model of judicial policymaking and using this model to explain civil penalty severity in all environmental protection cases (published and unpublished) concluded in federal district courts from 1974-91. Additive and interactive heteroskedastic unit effect regression models demonstrate that penalty severity in environmental cases is affected by case and defendant characteristics, judicial policy preferences, the surrounding political context, and federal institutional actors. These models also demonstrate that political considerations are especially influential in published case decisions.
The Communist Successor Parties and Party Organizational Development in Post-Communist Politics
Authors: Ishiyama John T.
Published: January 2007

The emergence of competitive party politics in the countries of postcommunist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has offered a unique opportunity to test some long-held propositions in party organization theory. What factors may promote certain types of organizations over others? To address this question, I develop a theoretical framework which identifies a set of party organizational types and the factors which might lead to the development of certain types over others. Second, I test these in light of the evidence from the communist successor parties from ten Eastem European and former Soviet countries. It was found that, among several independent variables, the previous communist regime type, the strength of the constitutional presidency, and the features of the electoral system were the best predictors of party organizational type among the communist successor parties.
Good Fences and Good Neighbors: John Locke's Positive Doctrine of Toleration
Authors: Wilhelm Anthony G.
Published: January 2007

Often critics who decry the poverty of neutrality as a regulative ideal in contemporary liberal regimes point to John Locke as an early apologist for a kind of toleration that discourages spiritedness in the public sphere. In this paper, I interpret Locke as a thinker who advanced both a right and a duty to toleration. This reconstruction of Locke's doctrine of toleration is salutary not only because he uses a state of nature argument to ground a moral right to toleration a right to care for one's own civil and religious ends, free from the magistrate's limited authority but also because he proffers a duty to tolerate others by cultivating a spirit of mutual assistance, liberality, charity, and conversation among citizens of the polity. Locke's educational writings show how this positive doctrine is inculcated through the cultivation of the social virtues, qualities of good character that are demonstrative of what Locke calls ‘a Good Life.’ This positive duty of toleration supplements certain defects of the contractarian argument (defects which liberal societies continue to try to ameliorate), since the fences that secure rights are shown to be necessary but not sufficient to foster the neighborliness that invigorates a good community.
Personal Dynamics as Political Participation
Authors: Miller Robert L. , Wilford Rick , Donoghue Freda
Published: January 2007

The responses of 1,404 women and 386 men to a probability sample survey of political attitudes and participation in Northern Ireland are reported. A broad definition of political activity is employed that includes personal assertiveness in personal relationships. The results reveal women by and large to be less involved politically and more passive than men. For women, the arena for political discussion is centered among family relationships; while for men most political discussions take place with friends or workmates. The responses of women and men, however, resemble each other more than they diverge in that the majorities of both sexes see themselves as apathetic and ineffectual in terms of personal assertiveness in political discussions. Multivariate regression analyses disclose the relatively minor significance of gender in comparison to other factors in determining one's personal political efficacy The variety of types of activity, and age, are clearly of more significance than gender in determining the level of political discussion, persuasiveness or influence within marriage. The results provide a cautionary tale about the perils of adopting an ”over-gendered” conception of political behavior.
Citizen's Evaluations of Participatory Democratic Procedures: Normative Theory Meets Empirical Science
Authors: Morrell Michael E.
Published: January 2007

Participatory democratic theorists claim that citizens would be transformed if they participated more directly in decision-making. These theorists, however, disagree about how participatory opportunities ought to be structured. In an attempt to integrate normative political theory and empirical political science, I examined one possible benefit of citizen participation: collective decision acceptance. Models of participation offered by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Stuart Mill are incompatible with contemporary participatory democracy, but Marsiglio of Padua offers a persuasive argument connecting participation and collective decision acceptance. In three experiments, I compared citizen's collective decision acceptance, individual assumption reevaluation, and group satisfaction for two different participatory structures -liberal and strong democratic procedures. Citizen's short-term perceptions were influenced most by their majority or minority status; with extended participation, however, the participatory structures significantly affected citizen's evaluations of the participatory process. Contrary to expectations, the liberal democratic group scored higher on all three measures. I theorize that participatory opportunities should occur frequently, across a variety of issues, and should be structured so that citizens do not feel personally attacked in the decision-making process.