Download or read book Personal Roots of Representation written by Barry C. Burden and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-18 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite heightened partisanship in the U.S. Congress and constituencies split along ideological lines, congressional representatives frequently buck their parties and seldom do precisely what voters ask. In Personal Roots of Representation, Barry Burden challenges standard explanations of legislative preferences to emphasize the important role that personal influences play in representatives' voting behavior. This timely book is the first to examine the extent to which the very same values, experiences, and interests that shape congressional members as individuals and guide their own life choices similarly shape their policymaking decisions. Burden takes a close look at legislative decision making in the areas of tobacco regulation, vouchers and school choice, and religion and bioethics. He finds that personal factors become more significant when legislators are acting proactively rather than reactively, grappling with specific policy issues, and defending rather than challenging the status quo. Marshaling both qualitative and quantitative evidence, Burden reveals that the personal roots of representatives' actions can be as influential as the usual suspects of partisanship and constituency--and that personal factors quite often have the greatest impact when the policymaking stakes are at their highest. Personal Roots of Representation is a provocative book that raises pressing new questions about legislative discretion and the accountability of our elected officials.

Download or read book Lie Groups Lie Algebras and Representations written by Brian Hall and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook treats Lie groups, Lie algebras and their representations in an elementary but fully rigorous fashion requiring minimal prerequisites. In particular, the theory of matrix Lie groups and their Lie algebras is developed using only linear algebra, and more motivation and intuition for proofs is provided than in most classic texts on the subject. In addition to its accessible treatment of the basic theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, the book is also noteworthy for including: a treatment of the Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff formula and its use in place of the Frobenius theorem to establish deeper results about the relationship between Lie groups and Lie algebras motivation for the machinery of roots, weights and the Weyl group via a concrete and detailed exposition of the representation theory of sl(3;C) an unconventional definition of semisimplicity that allows for a rapid development of the structure theory of semisimple Lie algebras a self-contained construction of the representations of compact groups, independent of Lie-algebraic arguments The second edition of Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Representations contains many substantial improvements and additions, among them: an entirely new part devoted to the structure and representation theory of compact Lie groups; a complete derivation of the main properties of root systems; the construction of finite-dimensional representations of semisimple Lie algebras has been elaborated; a treatment of universal enveloping algebras, including a proof of the Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt theorem and the existence of Verma modules; complete proofs of the Weyl character formula, the Weyl dimension formula and the Kostant multiplicity formula. Review of the first edition: This is an excellent book. It deserves to, and undoubtedly will, become the standard text for early graduate courses in Lie group theory ... an important addition to the textbook literature ... it is highly recommended. — The Mathematical Gazette

Download or read book Congress written by Andrew J. Taylor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With record low approval ratings (the lowest poll results since 1974) Congress is a failing institution in the eyes of many Americans. Is public opinion correct in judging the inefficacy of the legislative branch, or is the public mistaken in these harsh criticisms? Congress: A Performance Appraisal teaches students about this critical institution of American democracy by examining how successful the body is in carrying out its key functions, particularly representation, lawmaking, and checking the other branches of government. Rather than focusing on the institutional and procedural questions of how Congress is set up, what rules guide its actions, and how its members carry out their daily duties, Andrew J. Taylor asks: do these structures, procedures, behaviors, and outcomes serve the American people as they were meant to? Using a set of aspirations, a good legislature should strive for and benchmarks to rate how close it comes to those aspirations, Taylor offers a unique approach to the discussion of Congress, its actions, and its efficacy as a legislature. Sure to prompt provocative classroom discussions, Congress is the perfect text for courses on American government and politics.

Download or read book Congress Reconsidered 10th Edition written by Lawrence C. Dodd and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Always a classic, Dodd and Oppenheimer's Congress Reconsidered is the recognized source for in-depth, cutting-edge scholarship on Congress geared to undergraduates. Thoroughly updated for the 112th Congress.

Download or read book Political Parties Parliaments and Legislative Speechmaking written by H. Bäck and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In analysing speeches made by legislators, this book provides theoretical and empirical answers to questions such as: Why do some Members of Parliament (MPs) take the parliamentary floor and speak more than others, and why do some MPs deviate more than others from the ideological position of their party? The authors evaluate their hypotheses on legislative speechmaking by considering parliamentary debates in seven European democracies: Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Assuming that MPs are concerned with policy-making, career advancement, and re-election, the book discusses various incentives to taking the floor, and elaborates on the role of gender and psychological incentives in speechmaking. The authors test our expectations on a novel dataset that covers information on the number of speeches held by MPs and on the ideological positions MPs adopted when delivering a speech.

Download or read book Representing the Advantaged written by Daniel M. Butler and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that a significant amount of bias in representation traces its roots to the information, opinions, and attitudes that politicians bring to office. It suggests that even if all voters participated equally, there would still be significant levels of bias in American politics because of differences in elite participation.

Download or read book Congress and Its Members written by Roger H. Davidson and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2023-10-17 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Congress and Its Members has been the gold standard for Congress courses for thirty years. Now in its 19th edition, the book offers comprehensive coverage of the U.S. Congress and the legislative process by examining the tension between Congress as a lawmaking institution and as a collection of politicians constantly seeking re-election. The 19th edition covers the outcomes of the 2022 election and subsequent changes in in congressional organization and leadership, including the protracted battle for the House speakership. The book’s election coverage details regional shifts in party strength, voting behavior, the use of digital media in congressional elections, and state-level efforts to expand and restrict voting access. Up-to-date information on the diversity of the new Congress in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and professional background is provided. The politics and outcomes of the 2022 primary elections are covered, as well. Always balancing great scholarship with currency, the book features lively case material along with relevant data, charts, maps, and photos.

Download or read book Representing the Disadvantaged written by Katrina F. McNally and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-25 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The limited attention Congress gives to disadvantaged or marginalized groups, including Black Americans, LGBTQ, Latinx, women, and the poor, is well known and often remarked upon. This is the first full-length study to focus instead on those members who do advocate for these groups and when and why they do so. Katrina F. McNally develops the concept of an 'advocacy window' that develops as members of Congress consider incorporating disadvantaged group advocacy into their legislative portfolios. Using new data, she analyzes the impact of constituency factors, personal demographics, and institutional characteristics on the likelihood that members of the Senate or House of Representatives will decide to cultivate a reputation as a disadvantaged group advocate. By comparing legislative activism across different disadvantaged groups rather than focusing on one group in isolation, this study provides fresh insight into the tradeoffs members face as they consider taking up issues important to different groups. This title is available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Download or read book American Government 3e written by Glen Krutz and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black & white print. American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens. In order to help students understand the ways that government, society, and individuals interconnect, the revision includes more examples and details regarding the lived experiences of diverse groups and communities within the United States. The authors and reviewers sought to strike a balance between confronting the negative and harmful elements of American government, history, and current events, while demonstrating progress in overcoming them. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Primary Elections written by Robert G. Boatright and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-15 with total page 1005 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Primary elections have been used for the past century for most U.S. elective offices and their popularity is growing in other nations as well. In some circumstances, primaries ensure that citizens have a say in elections and test the skills of candidates before they get to the general election. Yet primaries are often criticized for increasing the cost of elections, for producing ideologically extreme candidates, and for denying voters the opportunity to choose candidates whose appeal transcends partisanship. Few such arguments have, however, been rigorously tested. This innovative Handbook evaluates many of the claims, positive and negative, that have been made about primaries. It is organized into six sections, covering the origins of primary elections; primary voters; US presidential primaries; US subpresidential primaries; primaries in other parts of the world; and reform proposals. The Routledge Handbook of Primary Elections is an important research tool for scholars, a resource guide for students, and a source of ideas for those who seek to modify the electoral process.

Download or read book Bankers Bureaucrats and Central Bank Politics written by Christopher Adolph and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most studies of the political economy of money focus on the laws protecting central banks from government interference; this book turns to the overlooked people who actually make monetary policy decisions. Using formal theory and statistical evidence from dozens of central banks across the developed and developing worlds, this book shows that monetary policy agents are not all the same. Molded by specific professional and sectoral backgrounds and driven by career concerns, central bankers with different career trajectories choose predictably different monetary policies. These differences undermine the widespread belief that central bank independence is a neutral solution for macroeconomic management. Instead, through careful selection and retention of central bankers, partisan governments can and do influence monetary policy - preserving a political trade-off between inflation and real economic performance even in an age of legally independent central banks.

Download or read book Volatility in State Spending for Higher Education written by Jennifer A. Delaney and published by American Educational Research Association. This book was released on 2023-10-30 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The severity of cuts and the unpredictability in state funding for higher education have garnered headlines across the nation since the turn of the present century. In this context, the authors in this new groundbreaking volume argue that too little attention is paid to the consequences of volatility in funding, as most discussions focus on levels of funding. Their research addresses an important blind spot in the academic literature since predictability matters—to institutions, students, families, and states. In addition, the risks of operating in an uncertain financial environment have led to behaviors that are not always in the best interests of states, institutions, faculty, students, or the public good.

Download or read book Civic Education in the Twenty First Century written by Michael T. Rogers and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-09-18 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine an America where politicians, governmental institutions, schools, new technologies, and interest groups work together to promote informed, engaged citizens. Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century brings together scholars from various disciplines to show how such a United States is possible today. Inspired by Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of American democracy in the early 1800s, this edited volume represents a multidimensional evaluation of civic education in its new and varied forms. While some lament a civics crisis in America today, Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century raises hope that we can have an informed and active citizenry. We find the activities of a number of politicians, government institutions, schools and interest groups as promising developments in the struggle to educate and engage Americans in their democracy. New technologies and new innovations in civic education have laid the foundation for a revitalized American civic ecology. With Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century, we call for the United States to make these practices less isolated and more common throughout the county. The volume is broken into three major sections. First there are four chapters exploring the history and philosophical debates about civic education, particularly with respect to its role in America’s educational institutions. Then, the second section provides seven groundbreaking inquiries into how politicians and political institutions can promote civic education and engagement through their routine operations. As some examples, this section explores how politicians through campaigns and judiciaries through community programs enhance civic knowledge and encourage civic engagement. This section also explores how new technologies like the Internet and social media are increasingly used by government institutions and other entities to encourage a more politically informed and engaged citizenry. Finally, the third section contains six chapters that explore programs and practices in higher education that are enhancing civic education, engagement and our knowledge of them. From the virtual civics campus of Fort Hayes State to citizens’ academies throughout the country, this section shows the possibilities for schools today to once again be civics actors and promoters.

Download or read book How Policies Make Interest Groups written by Michael T. Hartney and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-09-28 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical, revelatory examination of teachers unions' rise and influence in American politics. As most American labor organizations struggle for survival and relevance in the twenty-first century, teachers unions appear to be an exception. Despite being all but nonexistent until the 1960s, these unions are maintaining members, assets—and political influence. As the COVID-19 epidemic has illustrated, today’s teachers unions are something greater than mere labor organizations: they are primary influencers of American education policy. How Policies Make Interest Groups examines the rise of these unions to their current place of influence in American politics. Michael Hartney details how state and local governments adopted a new system of labor relations that subsidized—and in turn, strengthened—the power of teachers unions as interest groups in American politics. In doing so, governments created a force in American politics: an entrenched, subsidized machine for membership recruitment, political fundraising, and electoral mobilization efforts that have informed elections and policymaking ever since. Backed by original quantitative research from across the American educational landscape, Hartney shows how American education policymaking and labor relations have combined to create some of the very voter blocs to which it currently answers. How Policies Make Interest Groups is trenchant, essential reading for anyone seeking to understand why some voices in American politics mean more than others.

Download or read book Congress and Policy Making in the 21st Century written by Jeffery A. Jenkins and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-15 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Congress is frequently said to be 'broken', 'dysfunctional', and 'weak', but how does the contemporary Congress really work? Does Congress have the capacity to solve major policy problems? Can it check an aggrandizing executive, oversee a powerful Federal Reserve, and represent the American people? Can Congress cope with vast changes in the American political economy, including rising income inequality? Congress and Policy Making in the 21st Century takes a fresh look at the performance of Congress in the domestic arena, focusing on issues such as immigration, health care, and the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. With original contributions from leading scholars, this important volume examines how Congress tackles - and fails to tackle - key policy challenges in an era of growing social diversity and ideological polarization. Rich in analysis and illuminating detail, the book reveals the full complexity of the institution at work.

Download or read book Politics for Profit written by David Szakonyi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-09 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Businesspeople run for and win elected office around the world, with roughly one-third of members of parliament and numerous heads of states coming directly from the private sector. Yet we know little about why these politicians choose to leave the private sector and what they actually do while in government. In Politics for Profit, David Szakonyi brings to bear sweeping quantitative and qualitative evidence from Putin-era Russia to shed light on why businesspeople contest elections and what the consequences are for their firms and for society when they win. The book develops an original theory of businessperson candidacy as a type of corporate political activity undertaken in response to both economic competition and weak political parties. Szakonyi's evidence then shows that businesspeople help their firms reap huge gains in revenue and profitability while prioritizing investments in public infrastructure over human capital. The book finally evaluates policies for combatting political corruption.

Download or read book Accountability Reconsidered written by Charles M. Cameron and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2023-02-16 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last two decades have witnessed a substantial change in the media environment, growing polarization of the two dominant parties, and increasing inequality of wealth and income. These profound changes necessitate updating our understanding of political accountability. Accountability Reconsidered examines how political accountability functions in the US today given the dramatic changes in voting behavior, media, congressional dynamics, and relations between branches. With particular attention to policymaking, this volume uses original research to analyze micro-foundations of voter behavior, examining its implications for incentives and offering insight into the accountability relationships among voters, interest groups, legislators, and government bureaucracy. Combining contributions from leading experts who write about the political system synoptically with those who focus on specific elements, Accountability Reconsidered brings together distinct perspectives to focus on the effect of the informational environment on government officials, bridging up-to-date knowledge about accountability mechanisms with our overall understanding of political accountability.