The Dimensionality of Parliamentary Voting

2019 ◽  
pp. 838-852
Author(s):  
Keith T. Poole
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Dimensional Representation ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The U.S

The chapter discusses different ways to estimate the dimensionality of roll-call voting data. These methods use data from the U.S. House of Representatives, and the author shows that there were periods when a two-dimensional representation was necessary and others when a one-dimensional representation captures all but a relatively small percentage of the variance. The author then considers data from the UN General Assembly from before the fall of the Berlin Wall, finding a communist vs. anti-communist dimension and a pro- and anti-Israel dimension, as well as data from the French National Assembly early in the 5th Republic that finds a one-dimensional representation fits nearly perfectly. The author then considers some more technical issues about best methods, concluding that there is no foolproof way of determining the “true” dimensionality of a roll-call matrix, and no substitute for substantive understanding of the politics and policy shaping the roll calls.

Measurement validation: lessons from the use and misuse of UN General Assembly roll-call votes

1985 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian W. Tomlin
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Measurement And Analysis ◽  
Alternative Measures ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
Measurement Validation ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Measurement Validity

An oft-claimed advantage of scientific studies of international politics is the intersubjectivity of such inquiries. Although the ultimate promise of scientific knowledge is the understanding it imparts to patterns of association among classes of events, much contemporary research falls considerably short of this goal. As a result, the principal, immediate value of such research lies in its adherence to scientific practices that ensure that findings are not wholly dependent on the methods of measurement and analysis adopted by a particular researcher. More than a decade ago James Caporaso demonstrated the utility of measurement validation as a specific application of the general scientific mandate that inquiry be intersubjective. 1 Yet despite widespread positive reaction to Caporaso's examination of alternative measures of the concept “integration,” his study stands out as a rare example of the type of systematic investigation of measurement validity that must be undertaken in order to fulfill this scientific mandate. 2

The Illusion of Progress, 1956

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence S. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Free World ◽  
Incremental Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Essential Support

Eisenhower’s reservations in December 1955 did not keep his special assistant from unveiling a new package of proposals in January 1956. As always, Stassen’s work was fast and thorough. He characterized the results as a compromise, although Dulles and the Joint Chiefs groused that they failed to find any evidence of it. His plan contained elements of both the incremental approach to disarmament that he and the president had advocated in the past and other, more extravagant ideas encompassing a wide range of steps toward disarmament. He believed that the UN General Assembly substantially endorsed his views. Stassen also justified his haste, noting that a delay “would cause a serious loss of US initiative.” Not surprisingly, he encountered the continuing hostility of Dulles, who “believed that adoption by the U.S. of the position which you recommend would not be sufficient to maintain for us our leadership in the free world coalition and to secure the essential support of world public opinion.”

Big Rewards for the Small Screen

Cold War II ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 49-69
Author(s):  
Helena Goscilo
Keyword(s):  
General Assembly ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Us ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Small Screen ◽  
Key Questions

President John Kennedy’s suggestion to the UN General Assembly that the U.S. and the USSR embark on a joint expedition to the moon adumbrated the appearance of a highly successful American TV series: NBC’s Man from U.N.C.L.E (1964-68). What, one may ask, prompted the successful British director Guy Ritchie in 2015, when relations between Russia and the US were (and remain) at a nadir, to reprise/revamp the 1960s series in a film with the same title? To what extent does Ritchie’s film revise the earlier situation and the symbiosis between the two spies from the 1960s, even as he recreates that period? Does the film reflect the political tensions of the 1960s or of the 2010s–or both? These constitute some of the key questions that the chapter addresses in a comparative, politically contextualized analysis of The Man from U.N.C.L.E on the small and big screens.

scholarly journals When Church Teachings and Policy Commitments Collide: Perspectives on Catholics in the U.S. House of Representatives

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Oldmixon ◽  
William Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Church Teaching

AbstractThis article investigates the influence of religious values on domestic social policy-making, with a particular focus on Catholics. We analyze roll call votes in the 109th Congress and find that Catholic identification is associated with support for Catholic Social Teaching, but both younger Catholics and Republican Catholics are found less supportive. In followup interviews with a small sample of Catholic Republicans, we find that they justify voting contrary to Church teaching by seeing its application to most domestic social issues as less authoritative than Church moral teachings on issues like abortion.

Gender Turnover and Roll-Call Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives

2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
LESLIE A. SCHWINDT-BAYER ◽  
RENATO CORBETTA
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Roll Call Voting ◽  
The U.S

A Further Look at Universalism and Partisanship in Congressional Roll Call Voting

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Gaines ◽  
Brian R. Sala
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Negative Correlation ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Roll Call Voting ◽  
Legislative Activity ◽  
The U.S

This note extends Melissa P. Collie's “Universalism and the Parties in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1921–80,” American Journal of Political Science 32, 4 (November 1988): 865–883. Detecting a strongly negative correlation between the time series of universalism and partisanship in roll call votes for the 67th through 96th U.S. Houses, Collie concluded that consensus and partisanship are alternative, rival means of organizing legislative activity. If robust, this finding ought not to be time- or chamber-specific: it should be in evidence over the whole (partisan) histories of both House and Senate, session by session. Moreover, the inverse relationship should persist under alternative operationalizations of both partisanship and universalism. Using several measures of partisanship and universalism, mostly based on roll call votes tabulated for sessions of Congress, we reassess this relationship for the 43rd through 105th Congresses. Collie's core finding persists for both chambers over the longer time span provided that one uses her measures. But results are weaker when sessions of Congress rather than Congresses are used as units of observation, and alternative operationalizations of partisanship and universalism do not strongly replicate the original finding.

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