The Electoral Impact of Congressional Roll Call Voting

1971 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1018-1032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Erickson
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Select Group ◽  
Electoral Impact ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The U.S

This paper presents evidence that candidate issue positions have a measurable impact on elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. For eight election years, electoral margins of Northern incumbent congressional candidates were examined to test the proposition that “moderates” within each party are better vote getters than those whose roll call records reflect their party's ideological extreme. The effects of roll call positions on election results were estimated by examining the relationships between roll call “extremism” and vote margins with district presidential voting held constant as a control for normal constituency voting habits. Although no strong support was found for the proposition that Democratic Representatives lose electoral support when they take extremely liberal roll call positions, a clear pattern emerged for Republicans: the Republican Congressmen who are the best vote getters tend to be the relative moderates and liberals who avoid the extreme conservative end of the political spectrum. An analysis of survey data suggests that the small group of voters whose electoral decisions are influenced by their Republican Congressman's roll call performance are found within the ranks of a select group who are both free of strong partisan motivations and highly politically informed.

Plus ça Change: The 1922 U.S. Congressional Debate on the Balfour Declaration

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-106
Author(s):  
Khaled Elgindy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Palestinian Arab ◽  
The U.S

This essay looks at the hearing held by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in April 1922 on the subject of a Jewish National Home in Palestine, as well as the broader congressional debate over the Balfour Declaration at that crucial time. The landmark hearing, which took place against the backdrop of growing unrest in Palestine and just prior to the League of Nations' formal approval of Britain's Mandate over Palestine, offers a glimpse into the cultural and political mindset underpinning U.S. support for the Zionist project at the time as well as the ways in which the political discourse in the United States has, or has not, changed since then. Despite the overwhelming support for the Zionist project in Congress, which unanimously endorsed Balfour in September 1922, the hearing examined all aspects of the issue and included a remarkably diverse array of viewpoints, including both anti-Zionist Jewish and Palestinian Arab voices.

“I Am Afraid Americans Cannot Understand”: The Congress for Cultural Freedom in France and Italy, 1950–1957

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-124
Author(s):  
Andrea Scionti
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
International Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
Congress For Cultural Freedom ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Cultural Freedom ◽  
The U.S

This article examines the nature and significance of the activities carried out in France and Italy by the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), an international organization that was secretly funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to support anti-Communist intellectuals, including those on the left end of the political spectrum. These two West European countries, with their large and politically influential Communist parties, were central to the CCF's work in Europe. The organization's task was complicated by domestic concerns and traditions that forced local intellectuals to stress their autonomy from the CCF International Secretariat and its U.S. patrons. The article uses the cultural Cold War and the competing interpretations of anti-Communism and cultural freedom within the CCF as a lens to explore the limits of U.S. influence and persuasion among the intellectual classes of Europe. By repeatedly asserting their independence and agency, the French and Italian members of the CCF helped redefine the character and limits of U.S. cultural diplomacy.

Assessing state ESSA plans: Innovation or retreat?

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Patrick McGuinn
Keyword(s):  
Department Of Education ◽  
The Political ◽  
Approval Process ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
State Accountability ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Every Student Succeeds Act ◽  
The U.S

Three years after the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Patrick McGuinn reviews how the U.S. Department of Education has managed the approval process for state accountability plans, how state plans are shaping up as a result of their newfound flexibility, and what implementation challenges have emerged. States have required multiple iterations to submit plans that the Department of Education would approve, and state plans have met with criticism from multiple quarters and across the political spectrum. Some states have adopted new practices related to testing and which measures to use to assess schools. However, it is not yet clear what the long-term effects that the giving of greater flexibility to the states will have.

The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives

1968 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson W. Polsby
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Resource Allocation Problem ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The U.S

Most people who study politics are in general agreement, it seems to me, on at least two propositions. First, we agree that for a political system to be viable, for it to succeed in performing tasks of authoritative resource allocation, problem solving, conflict settlement, and so on, in behalf of a population of any substantial size, it must be institutionalized. That is to say, organizations must be created and sustained that are specialized to political activity.1 Otherwise, the political system is likely to be unstable, weak, and incapable of servicing the demands or protecting the interests of its constituent groups. Secondly, it is generally agreed that for a political system to be in some sense free and democratic, means must be found for institutionalizing representativeness with all the diversity that this implies, and for legitimizing yet at the same time containing political opposition within the system.2Our growing interest in both of these propositions, and in the problems to which they point, can begin to suggest the importance of studying one of the very few extant examples of a highly specialized political institution which over the long run has succeeded in representing a large number of diverse constituents, and in legitimizing, expressing, and containing political opposition within a complex political system—namely, the U.S. House of Representatives.The focus of my attention here will be first of all descriptive, drawing together disparate strands—some of which already exist in the literature3—in an attempt to show in what sense we may regard the House as an institutionalized organ of government. Not all the necessary work has been done on this rather difficult descriptive problem, as I shall indicate. Secondly, I shall offer a number of speculative observations about causes, consequences, and possible lessons to be draw from the institutionalization of the House.

Dynamics of Cosponsorship

1996 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kessler ◽  
Keith Krehbiel
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Median Voter ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legislative Politics ◽  
Signaling Games ◽  
Electoral Connection ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Bill Cosponsorship

Electoral-connection theories of legislative politics view bill cosponsorship as low-cost position taking by rational legislators who communicate with target audiences (e.g., constituents) external to the legislature. Legislative signaling games suggest a view of bill cosponsorship in which early cosponsors attempt to communicate to target audiences (e.g., the median voter) within the legislature. Using data from the 103rd U.S. House of Representatives, we show that the timing of legislators' cosponsorship decisions are more supportive of cosponsorship as intralegislative signaling than as extralegislative position taking. First, policy extremists on both sides of the political spectrum are more likely than moderates to be initial endorsers of legislative initiatives. Second, extremist-moderate differences diminish over the course of bill histories.

The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives

1968 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson W. Polsby
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Political System ◽  
Allocation Problem ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Resource Allocation Problem ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
The U.S

Most people who study politics are in general agreement, it seems to me, on at least two propositions. First, we agree that for a political system to be viable, for it to succeed in performing tasks of authoritative resource allocation, problem solving, conflict settlement, and so on, in behalf of a population of any substantial size, it must be institutionalized. That is to say, organizations must be created and sustained that are specialized to political activity. Otherwise, the political system is likely to be unstable, weak, and incapable of servicing the demands or protecting the interests of its constituent groups. Secondly, it is generally agreed that for a political system to be in some sense free and democratic, means must be found for institutionalizing representativeness with all the diversity that this implies, and for legitimizing yet at the same time containing political opposition within the system.

scholarly journals Florida in the Tipping Point: The Sunshine State in the U.S. Presidential Elections

Norteamérica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto Domínguez López
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
State Level ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electoral Impact ◽  
Political Realignment ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The U.S

 This article examines presidential election processes in the state of Florida. A set of criteria is proposed for the definition of its swing state condition whereby it can be observed that Florida is in compliance since the early 1990s. The electoral impact of Florida is considered in light of the growth of its electoral college and its transformation into a swing state is interpreted as a state-level expression of the political realignment that followed the transition period of the 1970s and the 1980s. An ongoing trend of changes in the composition of Hispanic communities is also observed, as well as variations in their electoral behaviors. Within the frame of a national transition process, the registered trends and data indicate the existence of suitable conditions for a new political realignment in Florida as part of a nationwide realignment. The emerging configuration of the political system in this state is undetermined. 

scholarly journals Law’s Wars, Law’s Trials The Fate of the Rule of Law in the U.S. ‘War on Terror’

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Richard L. Abel
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
State Power ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Broad Consensus

The rule of law is a foundation of the liberal state. There is broad consensus about its core, extending across the political spectrum. Our own experience tragically teaches that the rule of law is most endangered when those exercising state power feel threatened: during and after wars and in response to social protest.      

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