Do More Professionalized Legislatures Discriminate Less? The Role of Staffers in Constituency Service

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 571-578
Author(s):  
Michelangelo Landgrave ◽  
Nicholas Weller
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Racial Minorities ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Multiple Measures ◽  
Constituency Service

Research suggests that organizational structure can influence the ability of actors to discriminate. In this research note, we examine whether the structure of state legislatures affects observed discrimination in correspondent audit studies. We find that increased legislative professionalization is associated with reduced discrimination against racial minorities. By analyzing thousands of emails collected in a prior study, we find that legislative professionalization is related to a higher likelihood that staffers respond to email contacts and staffers are less likely to discriminate against racial minorities across multiple measures of discrimination. Our findings emphasize the importance of substantively relevant heterogeneity in audit studies and identify a potential mitigator of discrimination—legislative professionalism. Our results also highlight the importance of staffers in representation and the legislative process.

The Role of Ideal Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christie Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Racial Minorities ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Liberal Society ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Ideal Society ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Theories Of Justice ◽  
Comprehensive Doctrines

This chapter discusses whether political liberalism’s commitment to ideal theory makes it ill-suited for theorizing about justice for socially subordinated groups such as women and racial minorities. It is shown that political liberalism’s commitment to ideal theory does not entail assuming away race or gender as social categories that give rise to concerns about justice. Even within a politically liberal well-ordered (ideal) society racial or gender inequalities may arise due to the role that beliefs about race or gender play in some persons’ comprehensive doctrines. Furthermore, it is argued that theories of justice developed for a well-ordered politically liberal society provide important guidance for correcting injustices on the basis of gender and race in nonideal societies.

The Role of Government Backbenchers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Russell ◽  
Daniel Gover
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Corporate Manslaughter ◽  
Party Cohesion ◽  
Government Legislation

This chapter explores how government backbench parliamentarians in both chambers at Westminster influence the content of government legislation and the dynamics of politics. Government backbenchers are often thought to be Westminster’s most influential policy actors, operating through the ‘intraparty mode’. As summarized here, governments have recently become less able to rely on their votes, thanks to declining party cohesion. Yet governments are rarely defeated as a result of rebellious votes. This chapter analyses government backbenchers’ amendments proposed to the 12 case study bills—some of which served purposes other than immediate policy change—and their role as ‘pivotal voters’ in resolving legislative disputes with other (particularly opposition) actors. It also emphasizes their influence on legislation before it is introduced, and the importance of ‘anticipated reactions’. For example, ministers introduced the Corporate Manslaughter Bill only reluctantly, following backbench pressure. Backbenchers hence have subtle, and often hidden, influence in the legislative process.

scholarly journals The European Committee of the Regions as a watchdog of the principle of subsidiarity

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-301
Author(s):  
Salvatore Fabio Nicolosi ◽  
Lisette Mustert
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
European Committee ◽  
Legislative Proposal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Committee Of The Regions ◽  
Regional Funds ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Eu

In a resolution adopted on 1 February 2018, the European Committee of the Regions noted that a legislative proposal of the European Commission concerning a Regulation that changes the rules governing the EU regional funds for 2014-2020 did not comply with the principle of subsidiarity. Accordingly, the Committee considered challenging the legislative proposal before the Court of Justice if the proposal was formally agreed upon. Although at a later stage the European Commission decided to take into account the Committee’s argument and amended the proposal accordingly, such a context offers the chance to investigate more in detail the role of the Committee of the Regions in the legislative process of the EU and, more in particular, its role as a watchdog of the principle of subsidiarity. This paper aims to shed light on a rather neglected aspect of the EU constitutional practice, such as the potential of the Committee of the Regions to contribute to the legislative process, and answer the question of whether this Committee is the right body to guarantee compliance with the principle of subsidiarity.

Voting Trusts and Antitrust: Rethinking the Role of Shareholder Litigation in Public Regulation, from the 1880s to the 1930s

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-600
Author(s):  
Naomi R. Lamoreaux ◽  
Laura Phillips Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Competition Policy ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Antitrust Policy ◽  
Minority Shareholders ◽  
Public Regulation ◽  
Economic Concentration ◽  
Over Time

Scholars have long recognized that the states’ authority to charter corporations bolstered their antitrust powers in ways that were not available to the federal government. Our paper contributes to this literature by focusing attention on the relevance for competition policy of lawsuits brought by minority shareholders against their own companies, especially lawsuits challenging voting trusts. Historically judges had been reluctant to intervene in corporations’ internal affairs and had been wary of the potential for opportunism in shareholders’ derivative suits. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, they had begun to revise their views and see shareholders as useful allies in the struggle against monopoly. Although the balance between judges’ suspicion of and support for shareholders’ activism shifted back and forth over time, in the end the lawsuits provoked state legislatures to strengthen antitrust policy by making devices like voting trusts unsuitable for purposes of economic concentration.

Confounded Delay-of-KR Design Revisited: Reply to Bilodeau

1965 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Dyal
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Previous Experiment ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Scientific Inference

In response to Bilodeau's critique of a previous experiment three points are made: (1) relatively small ns and multiple Es are within the logic of scientific inference, (2) when you replicate you replicate, (3) there is a misunderstanding of the role of a research note in the scientific literature. The Dyal experiment then is a positive replication of Greenspoon and Foreman and thus contrasts with Bilodeau and Ryan's failure to replicate.

The Parliamentary Role of Joint Standing Committees in Sweden

1951 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 464-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil C. M. Elder
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
The Government

The joint standing committees of the Swedish Parliament are unique institutions of particular interest to the political analyst. They are the very linchpin of the legislative process in Sweden; they mediate in the event of intercameral disputes; and they even arrogate to themselves quasi-governmental powers when the government cannot muster a majority in the legislature.

Research Note: Some Problems with Measurement of Macro-organizational Structure

1981 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Grinyer ◽  
Masoud Yasai-Ardekani
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Electrical Engineering ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Loss Of Information ◽  
The Uk

Problems associated with the use of Aston psychometrically based measures are evalu ated in the light of experience gained in and the findings of an empirical study of 45 electrical engineering companies in the UK in which the Aston methodology was used. It is shown that (a) the unidimensionality of multi-item measures must be clearly established if loss of information is to be avoided, (b) scales constructed by aggregation of a number of subscales suggested by factor analysis should not be given general labels beyond the description of subscales included in the final scale, and (c) abbreviated scales based on the original study may only reflect sample-specific relationships and may not be used as proxies of original scales in the study of other samples. The objectivity of factor analysis is also addressed.

Organizational structure and innovation performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisher Tohirovich Dedahanov ◽  
Changjoon Rhee ◽  
Junghyun Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Innovative Behavior ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Republic

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of innovative behavior on the relationships between organizational structure, such as centralization, formalization, integration, and organizational innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data from 140 functional managers of manufacturing organizations in the Republic of Korea. The authors used structural equation modeling procedure to evaluate the validity of proposed hypotheses. Findings The results suggest that innovative behavior mediates the links among centralization, formalization, and organizational innovation performance. However, the findings indicate that innovative behavior does not mediate the relationship between integration and organizational innovation performance. Originality/value This work is the first to examine the mediating role of innovative behavior on the associations among centralization, integration, and organizational innovation performance.

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