The Salience of American State Politics

1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kent Jennings ◽  
Harmon Zeigler
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
State Government ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
State Politics ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Institutional Performance ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Large Numbers

Research emphasizing the correlates of state policy outputs and the performance of particular institutions has overshadowed the role of the citizenry in the drama of state politics. One question of basic concern is the relevance of state government and politics for the inhabitants of a state. At the level of public policy and institutional performance the answer to this is factual and straightforward. The nature, amount, distribution, and to some extent the quality of a state's services and policies can be specified. Since states perform most of the traditional functions of governmental units and since these functions affect the fortunes of the citizens, state politics has an obvious, tangible, objective relevance for a state's inhabitants. At another level, however, the answer is not so clear-cut. Here we are dealing with the idea of what is subjectively relevant. Large numbers of people apparently pass their lives being touched by political institutions in a variety of ways without becoming particularly interested in or involved with these institutions. Other people become intensely, purposively related to these same institutions. Still others fall along a continuum between these two poles. If substantial variations exist in the general salience of politics, there is little reason to doubt that the same conditions may be found in particular subsets of political matters. In the case at hand this subset consists of the cluster of institutions, actors, and processes known as state political systems.

The media

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelise Russell ◽  
Maxwell McCombs
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
New Media ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Mass Publics ◽  
The Media ◽  
Cultural Shifts

Mass media effects in political science are well known — including campaign communications, priming effects, and the media's role in social and cultural shifts. But what is not so clear is how the actions of media outlets and the actors within these institutions affect governance. In the last 20 years, scholars in public policy and political institutions have begun to better understand the role of media in our governing systems and what that means for how we attend to and make policy across numerous types of political systems and institutional venues. For too long public policy has lagged in its understanding of the media as a political institution with real implications for how we process and implement policy. We argue studies of public policy can benefit from a broadened, integrative approach toward studying the media and the policy process. That approach includes the role of new media and research on social media that can be applied to the policy process. Continued research on the media and policy should include better integration of media and policy studies with those of mass publics and encourage greater communication and collaboration between media and policy scholarship. 

scholarly journals Threat or Corrective? Assessing the Impact of Populist Parties in Government on the Qualities of Democracy: A 19-Country Comparison

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Davide Vittori
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Scholars have long debated whether populism harms or improves the quality of democracy. This article contributes to this debate by focusing on the impact of populist parties in government. In particular, it inquires: (1) whether populists in government are more likely than non-populists to negatively affect the quality of democracies; (2) whether the role of populists in government matters; and (3) which type of populism is expected to negatively affect the quality of liberal-democratic regimes. The results find strong evidence that the role of populists in government affects several qualities of democracy. While robust, the findings related to (2) are less clear-cut than those pertaining to (1). Finally, regardless of their role in government, different types of populism have different impacts on the qualities of democracy. The results show that exclusionary populist parties in government tend to have more of a negative impact than other forms of populism.

Die Reformen des Wahlrechts zum Deutschen Bundestag 2011 und 2013 im öffentlichen Diskurs

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 844-864
Author(s):  
Eric Linhart ◽  
Oke Bahnsen
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
German Newspapers

The German electoral law to the federal parliament was reformed in 2011 and in 2013 . While political scientists have extensively evaluated consequences of these reforms, the role of the public discourse has been largely neglected . We analyze articles from three leading German newspapers (FAZ, SZ, Welt) on this topic and find the debate around the reforms to be dominated by parties and political institutions . Scientists, interest groups, and journalists have only played minor roles . Regarding content, the discourse largely focused on surplus seats, reform speed, and a proposal by the CDU/CSU‑FDP coalition government in 2011 . A broad public debate in which multiple social groups could participate has not taken place . From a normative perspective this is problematic since the lack of a public debate might have contributed to the poor quality of the reform’s result .

Institutions, Veto Points, and Policy Results: A Comparative Analysis of Health Care

1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen M. Immergut
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Medical Associations ◽  
European Health ◽  
Control Decision ◽  
Professional Dominance ◽  
Veto Points

ABSTRACTThe medical profession is reputed to control decision-making in medical care to such an extent that one can speak of professional dominance. Yet West European health policies have radically changed the working conditions and incomes of doctors in many countries. Why have some governments been able to ‘socialize’ medicine? This article seeks to refute the view that the medical profession exercises a universal veto power. In contrast to scholars who explain medical influence in terms of singular characteristics of the medical profession or through the historical process of professionalization, this essay focuses on the properties of distinct political systems that make them vulnerable to medical influence. It argues that we have veto points within political systems and not veto groups within societies. By comparing the lobbying efforts of medical associations in Switzerland, France, and Sweden, the article analyses the role of political institutions in accounting for different patterns of medical association influence on health policy.

Bureaucracy, Political Parties, and Political Development

1973 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 600-607
Author(s):  
Gerald A. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Policy Making Process

The growing role of governmental bureaucracy has been one of the most noted and discussed characteristics of developing political systems. The phenomenon of bureaucratic intervention in politics, already discernible in the 1950's in many of these states, has, so it seems, become the rule rather than the exception in the years that have followed. Despite the prevalence of the politicized bureaucracy, however, and the amount of discussion engendered by the phenomenon, die sources of bureaucratic growth and dominance in the developing states remain obscure. Most analysts emphasize the superior organization of the bureaucracy and argue that this organization, reinforced by die transfer of techniques from abroad and uncontested because of weak indigenous political institutions, provides much of the explanation for the aggrandizement of the bureaucracy in die policy-making process.

Poverty, Children, and Public Policies

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT F. KELLY ◽  
SARAH H. RAMSEY
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Poor Families ◽  
Families With Children

The articles in the special issue on Families, Poverty, and Public Policies focus on poor families with children and develop a central theme: that current policies are not sufficiently responsive to the emerging reality of large numbers of children living in poverty. This article first provides a context for considering the results reported in these articles by noting recent public policy, demographic, and socioeconomic trends that will influence these families in the future. Second, the articles are briefly reviewed and compared with an emphasis on demonstrating the need for diversity in programs to respond to the diverse needs of these families. Third, a research agenda related to the articles is discussed. The conclusion of the article addresses the role of research in the policy process.

Civil Society Approach

2019 ◽  
pp. 151-160
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Ekiert
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Distinct Mode ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Beneficial Role ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Over Time

The idea of civil society resurrected in the 1970s has been one of the most important concepts guiding reflection on political transformations of contemporary societies. This chapter discusses various understandings of the concept and the asserted role civil society has in shaping political and economic outcomes. It points to established consensus on the beneficial role of civil society as a political project and a set of normative principles, but it emphasizes disagreements about how civil society is defined and measured, how it evolves over time, what dimensions of politics and public policy it shapes, and what are the mechanisms through which it affects the quality of democracy and resistance to authoritarianism. It also explores the idea of the civil society strategy as a distinct mode of political transformations as opposed to the revolutionary strategy. Finally, it suggests that civil society can be construed as a discrete analytical optics for analysing political change.

scholarly journals Voting Rights Litigation And The Arkansas Judiciary: Getting What You Didn’t Ask For

1990 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 43-57
Author(s):  
James D. Gingerich
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Policy Analysts ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms

Many authors and researchers have commented about the role of courts, both federal and state, as public policy makers (Dahl, 1958; Grossman and Wells, 1966 and 1980; Shubert, 1974; Horowitz, 1977; Jacob, 1983). Others have studied the process of implementing judicial decisions and their effect upon public policy and other political institutions (Wasby, 1970; Baum, 1976, 1977, and 1985; Tarr, 1977; Johnson and Canon, 1984). Public policy analysts have shown that the longrecognized uncertainties in public policy-making frequently result in unintended consequences (Lindblom, 1968). Such unintended results are even more likely in the judicial decision-making setting, given the questioned authority and ability of courts to make policy, the lack of sufficient enforcement mechanisms, and the diverse nature of the implementing populations (Johnson and Canon, 1984).

When Do Ideas Matter?

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES I. WALSH
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Integrated Framework ◽  
Policy Goals

The field of comparative politics has begun to take seriously the role of ideas in politics, but to date this interest has not clearly specified the conditions under which ideas influence public policy. The author develops an integrated framework that shows ideas about policy goals and instruments are most influential when they do not attract substantial opposition from voters and interest groups and when political institutions concentrate decision-making authority. The author tests this framework by examining the fates of three ideas, facing different degrees of societal opposition and concentrated authority, adopted by the first Thatcher government in Britain.

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