Descriptive Representation and Black Political Involvement

Gaining Voice ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 97-122
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Clark ◽  
Ray Block
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Involvement ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Black Representation ◽  
The Us

A healthy representative democracy requires that citizens be politically involved, and it is especially important to consider the political involvement of groups that are marginalized, such as African Americans. Building on the political empowerment hypothesis, the chapter argues that an increased black seat share and black representation ratio should be associated with increased black political involvement. Using 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study data, the chapter describes how in states with an increased black seat share in the legislature blacks are more likely to be highly interested in politics and are more likely to vote. In states with a higher black representation ratio, blacks are more inclined to persuade others to vote. Black representation in the US House does not increase black political involvement, despite being the focus of many scholarly works of political empowerment.

Descriptive Representation and Black Public Opinion Toward Electoral Reforms

Gaining Voice ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 123-147
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Black Representation ◽  
The Us ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Us Constitution ◽  
Black Public Opinion

Given the difficulties blacks experience exercising their right to vote, it seems that African Americans would uniformly support laws that make it easier for people to vote (progressive electoral reforms), while uniformly opposing laws that make it more difficult for people to vote (prohibitive electoral reforms). Arguing against this logic and building on studies of winning and losing in politics, the chapter posits that descriptive representation in the state legislature should liberalize black public opinion toward electoral reforms governing access to the franchise, using 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study data to find partial support. An increased black seat share in the legislature is associated with blacks being less supportive of requiring that voters read from the US Constitution and requiring voters to show photo ID. Further, an increased black seat share is related to blacks being more supportive of automatic voter registration and election-day registration. The black representation ratio was unimportant for understanding whether blacks supported electoral reforms.

Should Constitutional Courts Adjudicate Political Disputes? The Perspectives of Democratization in Soviet Successor States

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Armen Mazmanyan
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Design ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Involvement ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Design Alternatives ◽  
Political Question ◽  
Political Disputes

AbstractThis article explores the consequences and the opportunities of political involvement of constitutional courts in post-Soviet countries. The answers to this inquiry allow a discussion on institutional design alternatives that would help constitutional courts to better support democracy. The author identifies particular practical difficulties with the present institutional settings (referring to them as to a 'paradox of political empowerment') and investigates the options for addressing the limitations created by the described model. In particular, the article reconsiders the widely accepted opinion that constitutional designers should have abandoned the 'political' responsibilities of constitutional courts (such as review of electoral disputes, inter-branch conflicts of jurisdictions, etc.) in these countries for the sake of preserving their institutional survival and legitimacy. The author argues that these 'political' responsibilities are essential for enabling democratic contributions by constitutional courts, and two conceptual justifications are forwarded to support this proposition. In contrast to the suggestions to abandon the 'political' responsibilities, the article proposes to address the problem of constitutional courts' political involvement and the hazard of damaging their legitimacy by enhancing the discretion of constitutional courts through introduction of a sound 'political question doctrine'.

The X factor: The struggle to get Latinos in US news stories amid a Latinx push and a changing journalism landscape

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Contreras
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Urban Affairs ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
The Us

Latinos make up only 5.4 percent of the overall newsroom workforce in the United States. Over the last 15 years, US media outlets have disbanded urban affairs or minority affairs beats and teams altogether. Various studies suggest Latino and African American communities continue to be under-covered by US media outlets, further marginalizing their narratives in the US experience. And for years, US media outlets have struggled on the terms used to describe people of Spanish-speaking heritage: Hispanic, Latino, Mexican American, etc. Now, because of the political empowerment LGBT residents, there is a movement to describe Latinos using the term “LatinX” — a gender-neutral alternative to Latino and Latina. The term was an attempt to incorporate individuals who didn’t identify with a gender or who were transgender. As the US media struggles to accurately portray Latinos, the term “Latinx” faces an uphill battle for mainstream media use amid pressures for basic coverage. The author argues that “Latinx” in stories neutralized gender for the sake of inclusion and could result in ignoring the oppression around gender identity and sexuality.

Gender Gaps, Partisan Gaps, and Cross-Pressures: An Examination of American Attitudes toward the Use of Force

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Michael A. Hansen ◽  
Jennifer L. Clemens ◽  
Kathleen Dolan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article explores the gender gap in attitudes toward the use of military force in the United States. Given that the United States has been continuously engaged in war for the last 17 years, we revisit the topic and explore whether a gender gap in attitudes persists by utilizing Cooperative Congressional Election Study data for 2006–16. In addition, given the primacy of partisanship to issue attitudes, we go beyond examining the gender gap to explore the impact of partisanship on these attitudes. We find that women are less likely than men to support the use of force in most circumstances. We also find gender gaps in the Democratic and Republican parties and acknowledge the diversity among women and among men in these attitudes because of partisan identity. Finally, we identify points of cross-pressure on individuals whose gender and partisan identities pull them in different directions, namely, Republican women and Democratic men.

Why Some Blame Politics for Their Personal Problems

2021 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2110134
Author(s):  
Vanessa Baird ◽  
Jennifer Wolak
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Political System ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Sense Of Control ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Personal Problems

Why do some people blame the political system for the problems in their lives? We explore the origins of these grievances and how people assign responsibility and blame for the challenges they face. We propose that individual differences in the personality traits of locus of control and self-esteem help explain why some blame the political system for their personal problems. Using responses from a module of the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we show that those with low self-esteem and a weaker sense of control over their fates are more likely to blame the political system for the challenges they face in their lives. We also demonstrate that this assignment of blame is politically consequential, where those who intertwine the personal and the political are more likely to evaluate elected officials based on pocketbook economic conditions rather than sociotropic considerations.

Who Puts Their Politics on Display?

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Elaine Auyoung
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Election Study ◽  
National Data

In this chapter, we explore a variety of factors that influence an individual’s decision to display a campaign yard sign. First, we consider the displaying of signs from the perspective of traditional models of political participation. Using national data from the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we explore demographic and attitudinal predictors of sign displaying, as well as measures of the political environment, such as residence in a swing state. Then, relying on our observational data from the 2008 and 2012 elections, we turn our attention to more localized factors that may encourage or inhibit the displaying of signs. In keeping with recent contextual work, we explore linkages between property traits, neighborhood traits, and the displaying of signs. Finally, we consider personality and whether individuals who display signs share traits such as the desire to make one’s views known and the propensity to initiate political conversations.

The Comeback Kid: Donald Trump on Election Day in 2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth C. McKee ◽  
Daniel A. Smith ◽  
M. V. (Trey) Hood
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Electoral College ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Donald Trump

ABSTRACTThe surprise outcome of the 2016 presidential election continues to raise more questions as experts grapple with the evidence for why most prognosticators considered a Hillary Clinton victory almost certain. This article uses the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study data to show that a primary explanation for why the election of Donald Trump was difficult to predict is that the bulk of his support did not materialize until Election Day, in the battleground states that he had to carry to win the Electoral College.

ERP Implementation Across Cultures

2012 ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
Celia Romm Livermore ◽  
Pierluigi Rippa
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
Study Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Erp Implementation ◽  
Enterprise Resources Planning ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Us ◽  
Resources Planning ◽  
Case Study Data

Implementing an ERP project is a political process. This paper starts with a literature review of organizational politics and its implications to the implementation of ERP systems. The Political Strategies Framework which categorizes different ePolitics strategies in the cases is introduced. The framework is applied in the later sections of the paper to case study data from two companies, one in the US and one in Italy, that both implemented a SAP Enterprise Resources Planning Systems (ERP) with very different outcomes. The discussion highlights the political dynamics in each case and the way in which the framework can help us understand these differences. The conclusions section discusses the differences between the political dynamics in each case and the implications from the findings to broader issues of research on ERP implementation and politics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document