bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Employer Strategies Towards Non‐Union Collective Voice
Authors: Gollan Paul J.
Published: May 2010

Non-union collective voice (NCV) has tended to play a minimal role in many Anglo industrial relations systems, with few formal processes or legal requirements. However, the lack of representative structures covering increasing numbers of non-union employees due to declining levels of trade union density and legislative changes banning closed shop or compulsory union arrangements have prompted the current interest in NCV arrangements. This article explores management strategies towards, and the development of, NCV arrangements and union responses to such arrangements in predominately English-speaking countries. It also tracks the development of dual-channel NCV and union voice arrangements, and examines the interplay between channels of NCV and trade unions. Overall, the article reviews this theory and raises debates around management strategies and issues involved in the process of transition from NCV to unionism.
International and Comparative Perspectives on Employee Participation
Authors: Wailes Nick , Lansbury Russell D.
Published: May 2010

This article seeks to modify and extend the Varieties of Capitalism (VofC) approach in a way that makes it possible for it to account for both within country diversity and the role which international factors play in shaping national patterns of participation. It does so by drawing on recent debates about the VofC approach in general and comparative corporate governance in particular. Both these literatures suggest the need for VofC analysis to adopt a less deterministic view of the role that institutions play in shaping social action, to focus more on the role of agency and interests, and to suggest the need to explore the interconnections between countries in more detail. The article uses this modified VofC framework to examine the extent to which it can help explain recent developments in two countries: the United Kingdom and Germany. It concludes by outlining suggestions for further research.
Economics
Authors: Pitelis Christos N.
Published: May 2010

This article aims is to provide a short critical account of extant economic theory(ies) of the firm, business (and industry organization), and the state and government. It explores competing perspectives, such as neoclassical economics, transaction costs, the evolutionary perspective, resource, capabilities, and the system-based view as well as Marxism and identifies common ground and differences. It also attempts a limited eclectic synthesis. The task of covering such apparently diverse topics in the context of a single entry is facilitated by the fact that extant alternative economic perspectives have implications on all the aforementioned theories. It also tries to show that the issues at hand are central to an appreciation of international organization and system-wide economic performance.
Economic Interests and Political Representation
Authors: Iversen Torben , Soskice David
Published: May 2010

This article begins by explaining the positive relationship between distributional equality and redistribution. It proposes in the second section that the correlation is indirect: two factors, the electoral system and the degree of economic coordination, each impact on both distribution and redistribution. Proportional representation (PR) promotes both distributive equality and especially redistribution; so does coordinated capitalism with an even greater impact on distribution. PR promotes center-left coalitions; and coordinated capitalism, by encouraging investment in co-specific skills, reinforces both median voter and business support for wage compression and strong welfare state insurance. The positive correlation between distributional equality and redistribution is in turn explained by a positive correlation between PR and coordinated capitalism.
Business and Neo‐corporatism
Authors: Schmitter Philippe C.
Published: May 2010

The advent of neo-corporatism has been a rare occurrence among advanced capitalist liberal democracies—and virtually unheard of elsewhere. Of the twenty or so original members of that club of rich countries, the OECD, only about one-third have managed to practice it for any length of time, despite the demonstrable benefits that this mode of interest intermediation has had for many aspects of macroeconomic performance from the end of the Second World War until the end of the 1970s. The most pervasive reason for this has been the opposition of organized business interests. Only under exceptional conditions of a “balance of class forces” between capital and labor has it emerged and persisted at the national level.
China and the Multinational Experience
Authors: Story Jonathan
Published: May 2010

Business people ask of China: what do we need to know in order to do business in China? The answer provided here is that the transformation of China conditions every aspect of business, and that therefore the central consideration for top management of multinational corporations is to understand the linkage between the party-state's economic policies and record, the rapid evolution of the business system, and what this spells out for the making and implementation of corporate strategy. The approach is to conceive of corporations as learning organizations, learning in this case how to operate in a China which is deeply engaged in learning what it means to modernize fast. This article links changes in the macro-context for China to changes in its business system; then briefly illustrates what this has meant, and continues to mean, for implementing corporate strategy and policies in China. The final section discusses the futures of China as the key to making corporate policies there now.
Credit Rating Agencies
Authors: Sinclair Timothy J.
Published: May 2010

Ratings seem increasingly central to the regulatory system of modern capitalism and therefore to governments everywhere. Getting credit ratings “right” therefore seems vitally important to many observers. But in pursuing improvement in the rating system one needs to appreciate the challenges and limits to rating. This article argues, after due attention to the origins and work of the agencies, that our expectations of the agencies are founded on a limited rationalist or machine-like understanding of the workings of capital markets. A more appropriately social (and dynamic) view of markets makes the challenge of effective rating even more daunting. The increasingly volatile nature of markets has created a crisis in relations between the agencies and governments, which increasingly seek to monitor their performance and stimulate reform in their procedures.
Corporate Control and Managerial Power
Authors: Culpepper Pepper D.
Published: May 2010

This article reviews the existing literature on the politics of corporate governance. The scholarship discussed has provided an important corrective to work on the origins of ownership in the law and economics literature, which focused on the historical origins of legal systems as the primary determinant of contemporary patterns of share ownership and minority shareholder protection. New theories of the politics in corporate governance bring in political agency and possibilities for change over time in individual countries, both of which were absent from work on legal origins. And indeed, the new theories of corporate governance are not wrong about the politics they describe. They provide different and important lenses for explaining the politics of corporate governance during moments of high political salience.
Social Policy and Business
Authors: Martin Cathie Jo
Published: May 2010

This article seeks to ascertain the full measure of the relationship between business and the welfare state and to understand when employers reluctantly accept, tolerate, or even actively pursue the provision of social benefits. It first reviews the relevant literature to pinpoint business motivations for supporting the creation of social benefits, either within the firm or by the state. It then explores the institutional conditions that encourage employers to cast a sympathetic eye on the welfare state. It suggests that employers have varied reasons for accepting and even seeking the provision of social benefits, ranging from mitigating labor unrest to securing productivity enhancements. Higher levels of employer organization, somewhat unexpectedly, make firms and national business communities more likely to support social programs.
Public–Private Partnerships in Business and Government
Authors: Greve Carsten
Published: May 2010

This article aims to examine the various definitions and categories of the concept of public–private partnerships (PPPs), the nature of the recent debate in the disciplines of economics, political science, and sociology, the business side of the partnerships in terms of the companies involved worldwide, and the regulatory perspective from a government point of view of how to steer, govern, and regulate partnerships. The article closes with some remarks on future research agendas. The first section deals with definition challenges. Some scholars conceive of PPPs in a very broad manner that tries to encompass nearly all sustained activities between business actors and formal political actors from traditional political institutions.
Consumer Policy
Authors: Trumbull Gunnar
Published: May 2010

Policy researchers have offered two classes of theories of consumer regulation. One emphasizes the role of business in proposing and shaping consumer protection policies. A second set of theories emphasizes the discretion and initiative of regulators. Through a comparative study of the emergence of consumer protection policies in France and Germany during the 1970s, this article shows that neither of these classes of theories explains the patterns of regulation that emerge. On the one hand, business interests were nearly identical across the two countries, yet regulatory outcomes were starkly different. On the other hand, national regulators that advocated consumer protections faced strong societal pressures as they selected the regulatory trajectory their country would follow. In France, in particular, consumer policy was characterized by significant experimentation, failure, and reassessment.
Environmental and Food Safety Policy
Authors: Grant Wyn
Published: May 2010

This article addresses four broad themes. First, there is a set of challenges to business from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with environment and food related issues. Against a background of a general decline in the strength of trade unions, these public interest groups have become the main countervailing political force to business. Second, there is the emergence of an entirely new set of regulatory actors, most notably the EU. Multi-level governance has become a key feature of the regulatory process. Third, there is the reaction against command and control regulation and its perceived limitations and a search for new policy instruments, although one must be careful of exaggerating the extent to which government has been replaced by governance. A fourth underlying theme is the economic and political significance of globalization in the food chain, particularly in terms of debates about trade liberalization.
Endogenous Trade Protection
Authors: Magee Stephen P. , Magee Christopher S. P.
Published: May 2010

This article surveys the literature on the political economy of trade policy. The discussion is organized around five propositions. The first is just a statement about the ways in which interest groups can influence government policies. The second proposition is the central point made in the political economy literature, and it explains the existence of policies that transfer income within a country while clearly reducing national welfare. Proposition three discusses how interest groups will be organized in their lobbying over trade policy. The last two propositions are more recent and more controversial. Both of these effects cause the weakening of protectionist forces globally. In proposition four, the article discusses the evidence that globalization has weakened the autonomy of nation states.
The State of Survey Research as a Research Tool in American Politics
Authors: Atkeson Lonna Rae
Published: May 2010

Survey research is one of the most common types of quantitative research methodologies in the social sciences. Today, it is a widely used tool to study many different kinds of questions in political science and across many subfields. Therefore, it is important because it provides a systematic way to explore vital questions about society and democracy by connecting the citizen to government. Although the method of survey research often relies on correlational studies to evaluate theories, other methods are also used. As the new millennium approached, survey response rates began to rapidly decline across all formats due, in part, to significant changes in technology. Alternatives to traditional survey research modes may include internet and mixed-mode surveys, and non-probability samples. It is important for the academic community to carefully consider the different survey methods used and their strengths and weaknesses.
Laboratory Experiments in American Political Behavior
Authors: Fridkin Kim L. , Kenney Patrick J.
Published: May 2010

This article concentrates on laboratory experiments. It starts by presenting a short discussion of the virtues and limitations of experimental research. It then outlines the contributions and advances derived from experiments in American political behavior. In addition, the focus of discussion is on the three areas within American political behavior: the role of stereotypes in campaigns, impression formation, and the influence of the media. Experiments showed theoretical expectations emanating from social psychology that individuals employ gender and racial stereotypes when evaluating politics and forming impressions of candidates and politicians. The experimental method was vital in advancing the understanding of how citizens incorporate and process information during contemporary campaigns. Moreover, the experimental methodology has enabled researchers to convincingly reveal that the media influence how citizens view politics in a number of distinct ways.
Field Experiments and the Study of Political Behavior
Authors: Davenport Tiffany C. , Gerber Alan S. , Green Donald P.
Published: May 2010

This article presents an overview of field experiments and their contribution to the study of political behavior. First, it briefly outlines the history of field experimentation in political science and neighboring disciplines. It then summarizes a series of important and interrelated research literatures, exploring the influences of political campaigns, political communication, and political socialization. The review shows that the advent of field experimentation represents a significant departure from what had been a field dominated by survey and lab research. Furthermore, the ways in which field experimental studies shaped the research in political behavior are addressed. Field experimental studies have brought a new level of precision to the study of campaign communication. The principal argument for observational research is that it enables scholars to study a broad class of causal questions, not just those that are amenable to experimental manipulation.
Voting Technology
Authors: Alvarez R. Michael , Hall Thad E.
Published: May 2010

This article reviews a number of avenues of new research in voting technology and provides suggestions for how this new area of research can be improved. There are three broad periods in American history that characterize the technology and methods Americans have used to cast votes. A key issue with voting technologies is whether voters are confident that a given technology is effective in counting votes. After the 2000 election, researchers examined which voting technologies captured votes most accurately, using the concept of the residual vote. Closely related to the problem of residual votes is ballot roll-off. Two additional research questions about voting technology are auditing elections and the potential for electoral manipulation. It is shown that voting technologies might affect election outcomes. The use of new techniques for studying observational data should not be seen as a substitute for the use of actual randomized laboratory or field experiments.
Politics, Expertise, and Interdependence within Electorates
Authors: Ahn T. K. , Huckfeldt Robert , Mayer Alexander K. , Ryan John B.
Published: May 2010

This article reviews the role of politically expert citizens as primary movers within a democratic political process characterized by patterns of interdependence among citizens. It also argues that the problem is mitigated through the patterns of interdependence realized in the form of complex networks of political communication. The difference between knowledge and expertise is also considered. One of the enduring innovations of the political economy literature on citizenship is to take information costs seriously in the analysis of political communication and expertise. The various aggregate and dynamic implications of heterogeneous networks for democratic politics and political communication are quite profound. Civic capacity in the aggregate benefits from the diffusion of expert opinion within and throughout networks of political communication. Political communication is not an antiseptic exercise in civic education.
Campaign Effects on Vote Choice
Authors: Hillygus D. Sunshine
Published: May 2010

This article describes how far the literature of campaign effects on vote choice has come, and where it should go. It seems clear that the effects of campaigns are more constrained than often is presented in the media. Moreover, the state of research regarding the influence of campaigns on vote choice (rather than turnout), including campaign effects due to citizen learning, campaign priming, and, more directly, voter persuasion, is discussed. The recent evidence of campaign effects largely reflects the availability of better data and more sophisticated research designs. In addition to individual-level variation in the way voters process campaign information, there is also variation in the particular campaign messages they receive. The great variation in candidate strategy and voter decision making should be viewed as both an opportunity and challenge for campaign scholars.
Forecasting Us Presidential Elections
Authors: Holbrook Thomas
Published: May 2010

This article offers an assessment of the current state of US presidential election forecasting models. It pays attention to presidential forecasting models from the last three election cycles. It starts by exploring ‘under the hood’ and describes the specifics of the most widely known models from the 2004 election. In addition, the predictions made by these models are addressed and the determinants of forecasting accuracy from 1996 to 2004 are identified. Moreover, the article explores the lessons learned from the 2000 campaign and the alternatives to the dominant aggregate-national forecasting models: electronic markets, citizen forecasts, and state-level forecasting models. From a forecasting perspective, the 2008 election outcome was business as usual. Some models were more accurate than others, as is always the case, but the average error was somewhat lower than in the past two elections cycles.
Economics, Elections, and Voting Behavior
Authors: Linn Suzanna , Nagler Jonathan , Morales Marco A.
Published: May 2010

This article pays attention to classic and recent work on economic voting at both the individual level and in the aggregate. It first presents the question of pocketbook versus sociotropic voting. The first major attempt to understand the mechanism causing the observed relationship between the state of the economy and voting was the attempt to discover whether voters were paying attention to the aggregate economy, or to their own pocketbook. Next, it addresses the question: do voters vote retrospectively, assessing past economic performance, or do they vote prospectively, basing votes on expectations of the future? Divided government raises an important question for students of economic voting. The implication is that divided government should reduce economic voting because the target of economic responsibility is less clear to voters. The article then provides a discussion of the directions research on economic voting is heading.
Latinos and Political Behavior
Authors: Garcia John A.
Published: May 2010

This article describes central questions regarding the political behaviors of Latinos and the continuing challenges to exploring and understanding this population. It goes beyond an inventory and assessment of the extant research and provides a discussion of key issues and questions that warrant more complex approaches and theories. The underlying theoretical concern focuses on the nature of community among persons of Spanish origin and its public consequences (i.e., transformation of community inter-connections to public expressions). Any discussion of Latino pan-ethnicity necessarily leads us to consider how Latinos' social identities are associated with their integration into American society. A major theme of this article is a challenge to researchers to view Latinos with greater complexity, and expand the full range of their political behaviors. The most significant form of political expression among Latino immigrants has been the act of naturalization. Additional considerations and directions of Latinos and political behavior are covered.
Getting up off the Canvass
Authors: Goldstein Kenneth M. , Holleque Matthew
Published: May 2010

This article outlines some of the literature on political mobilization and expands the field's research agenda beyond the typical canvassing activities. It describes the importance of political mobilization for both academics and political professionals. It then presents concerns about the study of mobilization, particularly the problems of endogeneity in observational studies and the use of field experiments. Finally, it turns the attention to the future of research on mobilization, arguing that more attention should be paid to how messages mobilize. The observations of political campaigns and the conversations with professionals who make their living doing election fieldwork strongly suggest that message matters. It is time to put politics and strategy back into the study of a political strategy, the article suggests.
American Electoral Practices in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Franklin Mark N. , Weber Till
Published: May 2010

This article concentrates on three areas in which American elections have features that are illuminated by voting behavior in countries with somewhat different features. These features are multiple elections, separated powers, and the locality rule. It also describes the aspects of electoral behavior: split-ticket voting, cycle of elections, and low voter turnout. Furthermore, a discussion on midterm loss and electoral realignments is presented. A comparativist perspective on US elections might show the study of realignments in much the same way as it could help to reshape thinking in such diverse subfields as turnout, party identification, and midterm loss.
Introduction
Authors: Edwards George C. , Howell William G.
Published: May 2010

This book addresses approaches to studying the American presidency. It also discusses presidential transitions and agenda setting, critical precursors to governing. It thoroughly examines the president's key relationship with the public, including the public's expectations of the president, the president's responsiveness to the public, the president's ability to lead the public, and the related topics of presidential rhetoric and the public's evaluations of the president. Moreover, the president as party leader, the impact of presidential legislative skills and public approval on congressional support, the consequences of divided government, and the role of interest groups in presidential politics are described. The article then covers the president's influence on the composition of the courts and the courts' checks on the president. Furthermore, it reports the key themes on the presidency, the efforts of different scholars to understand it, and directions for future research.
Game Theory and the Study of the American Presidency
Authors: Canes‐Wrone Brandice
Published: May 2010

This article describes how game theory has contributed to the understanding of the American presidency as well as how future research could use this technique to advance the understanding even further. The three topics covered here include presidential vetoes, public opinion, and Supreme Court nominations. It also determines several additional areas that seem especially suitable for new game theoretic analysis. Additionally, special attention is given to the limitations of game theory. The data shows how blame game theory can help identify personal versus institutional determinants of veto usage. Game theoretic models of vetoes have not only aided econometric analysis, but also qualitative empirical work. A more detailed description of how game theory has altered the substantive understanding of public opinion is offered. Simple differences in the assumptions of the models can produce vastly different predictions; thus it would be a shame if the theories were only produced by ‘outsiders’ to the field.
Historical Institutionalism, Political Development, and the Presidency
Authors: James Scott C.
Published: May 2010

This article starts by addressing historical institutionalism and American political development (APD) as analytic approaches to the study of politics. It explores the presidency's distinctive contribution to the politics of regime change. It then deals with the historically changing modalities of governance, isolating developmentally significant moments in the evolution of presidential politics. It separately examines the evolution of ‘plebiscitary politics’ and the rise of an ‘administrative presidency’. Additionally, it argues that a phrase like ‘the political development of the American presidency’ — or any single institution for that matter — is conceptually misguided. By understanding more fully the unique properties and political standing of the concept of presidency, and by examining its changing interface with other rivals for political authority, theorists find themselves in a better position to theorize its manifold contributions to political change.
Public Expectations of the President
Authors: Simon Dennis M.
Published: May 2010

This article presents a diverse body of research to examine the origin and development, the content, and the consequences of public expectations. It starts by describing on image-based expectations and the idealization of the presidency. The discussion then turns to performance-based expectations and the responsibilities imposed on occupants of the modern presidency. Furthermore, the article provides an assessment of existing research and identifies the questions most likely to animate future research on what the American public expects of its presidents. There are three consequences created by the idealization of the president in American politics and culture. The study of what the public expects of its presidents consists of two conversations. The first is academic and involves a conversation, members of the academy who study the relationship between the president and the mass public. The second is about expectations occurs in the ‘public square’.
Presidential Responsiveness to Public Opinion
Authors: Druckman James N. , Jacobs Lawrence R.
Published: May 2010

This article explores the president's emergence as a ‘representative’. It also presents different definitions of representation and examines research into the modern definition of presidential representativeness — the president's responsiveness to public opinion. A number of complications that studies of responsiveness face is emphasized, including the questions of whether citizens even possess ‘real preferences’, what specific aspects of preferences leaders respond to, whose preferences they consider, and whether citizens' preferences merely reflect those of elites. In addition, the article outlines the five major and exemplary bodies of research that investigate the extent and nature of presidential representation. Presidential representation varies across dimensions and levels of salience. It is much more complicated, multidimensional, and dynamic than investigations of whether the public's policy preferences align with the president's policies capture.
The President and Congressional Parties in an Era of Polarization
Authors: Rohde David W. , Barthelemy Meredith
Published: May 2010

This article describes a portion of the research on Congress and the president produced over the last two decades that relates to presidential party leadership. The main focus is on whether the theoretical arguments and empirical findings of that research apply to the polarized partisan era of the ‘Republican Revolution’ and the Bush presidency. It also concentrates on only a few aspects of the literature, particularly presidential success in the legislative process, the tendency to ‘go public’, and the consequences of divided government. Three aspects of presidential-congressional interaction are explained. A segment of the literature that is particularly relevant to this discussion involves the consequences of divided government. The implications of polarization are relevant to a large and important share of the political agenda.
Presidential Approval as a Source of Influence in Congress
Authors: Edwards George C.
Published: May 2010

This article argues that to determine the nature of the relationship between presidential approval and congressional support, one needs to reason more carefully about the theoretical underpinnings of the relationship and employ more rigorous designs for tests that evaluate this theorizing. The article begins by considering the views of presidents, White House aides, and other Washington insiders. It then outlines the reasoning behind hypothesizing that presidential approval would influence votes in Congress. There are two basic approaches to investigating the impact of presidential approval on congressional support for the White House. The theoretical thinking is vital as a foundation for developing and testing hypotheses.
The Paradigm of Development in Presidential History
Authors: Skowronek Stephen
Published: May 2010

This article provides a discussion on the paradigm of development in presidential history. The paradigm of development was stamped on contemporary understandings of the presidency very early on. The article also describes the issues and controversies emerging within and among presidential history. An adequate explanation is offered for whatever variation might be observed in the executive invocation of plebiscitary standards of legitimacy. Unitary theorists agree with the post-progressive critics of the modern presidency: they too see that modern American political development has led to the derangement of American institutions. The current opening for historical research is finally described.
Methodological Issues in the Study of Political Parties
Authors: Noel Hans
Published: May 2010

This article considers the quantitative methods in the study of political parties. It focuses on the most important methodological issues concerning the study of parties in V. O. Key's three main domains — in the government, as an organization, and in elections. The question of party cleavages and realignment is explored, emphasizing how this question bridges the three domains. The application of Social Networks Analysis in political science is in its infancy, but there are a number of scholars applying the method to political parties. The social networks theory of parties is nowhere near the level of rigor or predictive precision that the spatial voting theories of Congress have achieved. In general, the four areas of parties research nicely show several important problems in the study of parties.
Methodological Perspectives on Interest Groups
Authors: Ainsworth Scott
Published: May 2010

This article uses many interest group classics as well as a wide range of new works to show key methodological concerns for the interest group subfield. Each of the main sections of this article starts with a highly condensed discussion of some classical approaches to interest group studies and then introduces some newer work with important methodological advances. It then describes the pluralism and sociological models. It also reports the descriptive work. Additionally, it explains how adopting some of the same reasoning that underpins maximum likelihood econometric methods can strengthen descriptive work. Methodological issues related to unobserved actions and counterfactuals are also addressed. Moreover, the role of information for interest groups and interest group scholarship is reviewed. The immense domain of interest group studies virtually ensures that scholars will continue to be fascinated by interest groups.
American Political Parties
Authors: Silbey Joel H.
Published: May 2010

This article provides a sweeping analysis of the history of American political parties. It specifically uses the lens of critical election theory to explore the scholarly treatment of the development of parties as institutions, of the relationship between parties and the electorate, of the means that parties have used to communicate with and build relationships with the electorate, and of the existence and definition of party systems. The Democrats' administrative state grew during the Second World War and was reinforced and further expanded during the Cold War that followed. There was increased partisan polarization in the 1990s as the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives and vigorously set themselves against a Democratic president.
How Parties Nominate Presidents
Authors: Mayer William G.
Published: May 2010

This article reviews the evolution of the presidential nominating process and the role of party in securing presidential nominations from the founding to the modern era. It also describes the understanding of how voters reach decisions in presidential primaries and the larger consequences of the presidential nomination process for the functioning of the American political system. It starts by presenting a brief history of presidential nomination procedures. Two major ideas underlie most of the changes instituted by the McGovern-Fraser Commission. The most conspicuous consequence of the new rules was a significant increase in the number of presidential primaries. No matter what the rules, ambitious candidates and other actors find ways to make them work to their advantage or, at least, to neutralize the disadvantages. Party leaders have found ways of exerting influence in the post-reform nomination process.
Partisan Models and the Search for Party Effects in the US Senate
Authors: Sinclair Barbara
Published: May 2010

This article addresses what to do know about party in the US Senate and the questions that still need to be addressed. It also mentions that treating the Senate separately from the House in discussing party effects is justified because of the unusual rules that govern Senate consideration of legislation. The Senate majority leader is now the acknowledged chief agenda setter for the Senate floor. Conditional party government (CPG) theory and cartel theory are the two most prominent party theories. They propose that control over the legislative agenda is fundamental to party influence. The emphasis on negative agenda control in the cartel model has unfortunately led to questions about positive agenda control being underemphasized. The importance of organizational control of the Senate is described. The multiple-goals assumption when taken seriously changes both the potential costs and potential benefits of party organization and party leadership to members.
Party Coalitions in the US Congress
Authors: Brady David W.
Published: May 2010

This article demonstrates that the focus of scholars on the nature of coalitions within the parties and across parties in the US Congress has been and is that such coalitions are ultimately based on a left-right ideological space. It first describes how party theories of Congress are distinct from preference theories and the implications for coalition theory for two-party systems. It then presents some data that illustrate the rise of cross-party coalitions prior to the Second World War and their fall post-1970s, the argument being that in the Second World War era, a cross-party coalition of southern and border state Democrats with Republicans known as the Conservative Coalition dominated legislative politics and that political science literature follows the patterns observed in the Congress. It further discusses how preferences within and across the parties are significant for understanding policy outcomes. Moreover, the future of intraparty and interparty coalitions is addressed.
The President, Party Politics, and Constitutional Development
Authors: Milkis Sidney M. , Rhodes Jesse H.
Published: May 2010

This article explores the troubled relationship between the presidency and the political parties. The modern presidency became part of the living constitution as the guardian of new rights. Ronald Reagan was the first modern president to pose fundamental challenges to received government arrangements, a stance that required the support of a national, programmatic Republican Party. His efforts to square the institution of the modern presidency with the demands of party leadership were only partially successful. The challenge of remaking American politics ex cathedra would be cast in further relief during the presidency of George W. Bush. Bush's unprecedented efforts to strengthen the national Republican organization demonstrated the enormous potential of the modern presidency as an instrument of party building. Barack Obama's organizational efforts were modeled after the techniques that Republicans had pioneered.
State Parties Research
Authors: Wright Gerald C.
Published: May 2010

This article addresses how the two reformist traditions have shaped the party systems of the states and how they can be studied. It also provides a broad outline of research on partisanship in the state electorates, state party organizations, and the role of the parties in state government. Some commentary on future directions for research is presented. It then briefly reviews these recommendations, focusing in particular on what kinds of opportunities and challenges are given for state parties research by the changes in the ideological polarization of the parties which are so evident at the national level. Stronger, responsible parties are supposed to increase both government's accountability to the public and policy coherence. The future for state parties research is bright with the promise of new data resources which will permit stronger and more definitive tests of theories of party and citizen behaviour.
Who Sings in the Heavenly Chorus?
Authors: Schlozman Kay L.
Published: May 2010

This article takes an empirical look at the shape of the organized interest system in contemporary national politics. The discussion is predicated on two understandings that are sometimes overlooked in discussions of the mobilization of groups and the logic of collective action. The first is that interest groups are only a part of the set of organizations that represent collective interests in politics. Second, the shape of the organized interest system reflects not only processes by which organizations are created but also decisions to bring previously apolitical organizations into the political arena. The Washington Representatives directory is the single most nearly comprehensive listing of politically active organizations in Washington. It has shown that the shape of the organized interest community reflects both the free-rider problem and the resource-constraint problem and confirmed Schattschneider's observations that the heavenly chorus underrepresents organizations advocating on behalf of either broad public interests or the resource-deprived.
Social and Economic Justice Movements and Organizations
Authors: Strolovitch Dara Z. , Forrest M. David
Published: May 2010

This article explores the debates about organizations that represent and activate populations that were mobilized by social movements during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It also investigates the representation of chronically marginalized constituencies, especially women, racial minorities, gays and lesbians, and the poor. Research demonstrating the limitations of business power suggests that there are circumstances under which public interest groups can prevail against powerful lobbies in spite of vastly unequal material resources. The influences of institutionalization are described. Scholarship investigating advocacy on behalf of marginalized groups should continue its preliminary but productive conversation with the work of political theorists who challenge the idea that groups based on identities such as race, class, gender, and sexuality exist prior to politics.
Urban Interest Groups
Authors: Berry Jeffrey M.
Published: May 2010

This article explores the changing nature of urban interest group politics and contrasts trends and developments at the urban level with what is known about lobbies in Washington. It also examines the barriers to entry for interest group politics and finds strikingly low barriers at the local level. Analysis then turns to the politics of location, maintaining that the traditional image of downtown business groups dominating local politics while neighbourhoods are politically feeble is outdated and misleading. The revival of citizen participation programs in urban politics is addressed. It is shown that it presents neighbourhoods leverage that they would not otherwise possess. The possible commonalities in future research on national and local interest groups are reviewed. The interest group subfield will reorient itself, with research crossing boundaries set by tradition.
Lobbying and Influence
Authors: Leech Beth L.
Published: May 2010

This article provides an overview of the scholarly efforts to document the influence of interest groups and suggest some reasons why there is such a great disconnect between popular belief and scholarly evidence. One of the best-known examples of contradictory findings about the influence of interest groups comes from the classic studies of US trade policy conducted by E. E. Schattschneider (1935) and, three decades later, Bauer, Pool, and Dexter (1963). Schattschneider documented many limitations on group influence and Bauer, Pool, and Dexter documented many instances in which the close relationships interest groups had with their allies led to advantageous outcomes. In the age of Bauer, Pool, and Dexter, interest groups were effective in part because of the information they supplied. The wrong assumptions about how policy works are finally discussed.
Interest Groups in American Elections
Authors: Wilcox Clyde , Iida Rentaro
Published: May 2010

This article examines the myriad ways that interest groups are active in American elections, and the difficulties that scholars face in answering basic questions about this activity. The study of interest groups in elections raises problems of conceptualization, measurement, and estimation. The specific manifestation of these problems influences what is studied, how it is studied, and the conclusions that can be drawn. Groups consider their policy goals, resources that can be used in elections and constraints on the use of those resources, and the political environment, as well as other factors. The effects of interest group on American elections and policy are covered.
Linking Political Parties and Interest Groups
Authors: Heaney Michael T.
Published: May 2010

This article argues that political parties and interest groups are intricately and inextricably linked to one another. First, it examines co-evolution, discipline, brokerage, and identity as mechanisms that link parties and groups. The theoretical perspective behind each of these mechanisms is also explained in the context of empirical research that documents their relevance to organizational strategies and behaviours. It discusses how a research program that more explicitly addresses the party-group linkage might revise the understanding of parties and groups, and the nature of their dynamic interaction. It then suggests a number of avenues for future inquiry that would help to build more systematic knowledge about the ties between parties and groups. A new agenda for party-group linkages should recognize that the subject requires more than merely ‘more research’.
Baseline, Placebo, and Treatment: Efficient Estimation for Three-Group Experiments
Authors: Gerber Alan S. , Green Donald P. , Kaplan Edward H. , Kern Holger L.
Published: May 2010

Randomized experiments commonly compare subjects receiving a treatment to subjects receiving a placebo. An alternative design, frequently used in field experimentation, compares subjects assigned to an untreated baseline group to subjects assigned to a treatment group, adjusting statistically for the fact that some members of the treatment group may fail to receive the treatment. This article shows the potential advantages of a three-group design (baseline, placebo, and treatment). We present a maximum likelihood estimator of the treatment effect for this three-group design and illustrate its use with a field experiment that gauges the effect of prerecorded phone calls on voter turnout. The three-group design offers efficiency advantages over two-group designs while at the same time guarding against unanticipated placebo effects (which would undermine the placebo-treatment comparison) and unexpectedly low rates of compliance with the treatment assignment (which would undermine the baseline-treatment comparison).
Large-Scale Transposon Mutagenesis of Photosynthetic Bradyrhizobium Sp. Strain ORS278 Reveals New Genetic Loci Putatively Important for Nod-Independent Symbiosis with Aeschynomene indica
Authors: Bonaldi Katia , Gourion Benjamin , Fardoux Joel , Hannibal Laure , Cartieaux Fabienne , Boursot Marc , Vallenet David , Chaintreuil Clémence , Prin Yves , Nouwen Nico , Giraud Eric
Published: May 2010

Photosynthetic Bradyrhizobium strains possess the unusual ability to form nitrogen-fixing nodules on a specific group of legumes in the absence of Nod factors. To obtain insight into the bacterial genes involved in this Nod-independent symbiosis, we screened 15,648 Tn5 mutants of Bradyrhizobium sp. strain ORS278 for clones affected in root symbiosis with Aeschynomene indica. From the 268 isolated mutants, 120 mutants were altered in nodule development (Ndv–) and 148 mutants were found to be deficient in nitrogen fixation (Fix–). More than 50% of the Ndv– mutants were found to be altered in purine biosynthesis, strengthening the previous hypothesis of a symbiotic role of a bacterial purine derivative during the Nod-independent symbiosis. The other Ndv– mutants were auxotrophic for pyrimidines and amino acids (leucine, glutamate, and lysine) or impaired in genes encoding proteins of unknown function. The Fix– mutants were found to be affected in a wide variety of cellular processes, including both novel (n = 56) and previously identified (n = 31) genes important in symbiosis. Among the novel genes identified, several were involved in the Calvin cycle, suggesting that CO2 fixation could play an important role during this symbiosis.