Download or read book State Legislatures Today written by Peverill Squire and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise and provocative introduction to State Legislative Politics, State Legislatures Today is designed as a supplement for state and local government courses and upper level courses on legislative politics. The book examines state legislatures and state lawmakers, putting them in historical context, showing how they have evolved over the years, and differentiating them from Congress. It covers state legislative elections (including the impact of redistricting, candidate recruitment, etc.), the changing job description of state legislators, legislatures as organizations, the process by which legislation gets produced, and the influences upon legislators. Many things have happened in the five years since the popular first edition. Significant developments addressed in the new edition include: 1. The rise of the Tea Party Movement, which has contributed to the stalemate in Congress and greatly influenced legislative politics in many states. Indeed, the Tea Party’s greatest impact has been in state capitals, not in Washington, DC. 2. A marked increase in one-party government, resulting in greatest number of states with one-party government in at least fifty years. One-party government, of course, allows for dramatic policy shifts. Thus, governors and state legislatures have been able to make significant policy decisions while Congress and the President have been gridlocked. 3. A dramatic increase in the use of recall elections (Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin) and referenda to challenge legislative policy decisions (Idaho, South Dakota, Ohio, and Washington), signaling a growing frustration with legislative policies in some states. Recall elections and referenda only occur at the state level. 4. Changes in term limits and budgeting laws in California directly affecting the work of the legislature in the largest state in the Union. 5. Highly visible state legislative policies on hot-button issues such as gun control, taxation, public employee benefits, teachers’ unions, taxation, abortion, immigration and education reform. The conflicts generated by these debates have produced incidents that captured national attention, perhaps most notably when Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate fled to Illinois to break quorum and prevent the Republicans from passing a measure limiting public unions in the state. 6. Efforts to profoundly alter the structure of some state legislatures, such as a measure to substantially reduce the number of legislative seats in Pennsylvania and a proposed initiative to radically increase the number of seats in California. 7. The culmination of a redistricting cycle in 2012 which alters the nature of many legislative districts and the course of politics and policy over the next decade. 8. A rare and historic “wave election” in 2010 that saw the Republican Party gain more than 700 seats in state legislatures.

Download or read book Politicians Legislation and the Economy written by R.E. McCormick and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Legislative Style written by William Bernhard and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-02-01 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once elected, members of Congress face difficult decisions about how to allocate their time and effort. On which issues should they focus? What is the right balance between working in one’s district and on Capitol Hill? How much should they engage with the media to cultivate a national reputation? William Bernhard and Tracy Sulkin argue that these decisions and others define a “legislative style” that aligns with a legislator’s ambitions, experiences, and personal inclinations, as well as any significant electoral and institutional constraints. Bernhard and Sulkin have developed a systematic approach for looking at legislative style through a variety of criteria, including the number of the bills passed, number of speeches given, amount of money raised, and the percentage of time a legislator voted in line with his or her party. Applying this to ten congresses, representing twenty years of congressional data, from 1989 to 2009, they reveal that legislators’ activity falls within five predictable styles. These styles remain relatively consistent throughout legislators’ time in office, though a legislator’s style can change as career goals evolve, as well as with changes to individual or larger political interests, as in redistricting or a majority shift. Offering insight into a number of enduring questions in legislative politics, Legislative Style is a rich and nuanced account of legislators’ activity on Capitol Hill.

Download or read book Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress written by Craig Volden and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-10-27 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores why some members of Congress are more effective than others at navigating the legislative process and what this means for how Congress is organized and what policies it produces. Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman develop a new metric of individual legislator effectiveness (the Legislative Effectiveness Score) that will be of interest to scholars, voters, and politicians alike. They use these scores to study party influence in Congress, the successes or failures of women and African Americans in Congress, policy gridlock, and the specific strategies that lawmakers employ to advance their agendas.

Download or read book Representing America written by Rebekah Herrick and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1990s, many members of the House of Representatives could be characterized as citizen legislators - they either voluntarily limited their term in office or they had no prior political experience. Representing America compares the representational styles of these legislators with the professional legislators, who make a career out of being a legislator, elected at the time.

Download or read book First Person Political written by Grant Reeher and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2006-01-30 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In First Person Political, Grant Reeher combats the public's alienation from and distrust of politicians by putting a personal face on everyday political life. Through moving personal interviews, Reeher allows legislators to tell their own stories about how and why they came to politics, the experience of serving in their state legislature, their decisions to stay or leave, and the many trials they face in the name of public service. Reeher contends that these politicians do have the public good in mind and often suffer great personal losses for their chance to represent the people and fight for what they think is right. His research also shows that those who choose to run for office often come from a background of deep community involvement. Reeher argues against public cynicism about our elected officials, and his profiles stir not only our praise and respect for these legislators, but also a greater belief in the democratic process itself. The excerpts from his interviews provide a rarely afforded intimate look at these politicians. What emerges from these stories is a humane and believable portrait of public servants acting on behalf of the public good, a portrait that should provide some comfort, perhaps even inspiration, for citizens concerned about the state of American democracy.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies written by Shane Martin and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legislatures are arguably the most important political institution in modern democracies. The Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies, written by some of the most distinguished legislative scholars in political science, provides a comprehensive and up-to-date description and critical assessment of the state of the art in this key area.

Download or read book More Women Can Run written by Susan J. Carroll and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-02 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women remain dramatically underrepresented in elective office, including in entry-level political offices. While they enjoy the freedom to stand for office and therefore have an equal legal footing with men, this persistent gender imbalance raises pressing questions about democratic legitimacy, the inclusivity of American politics, and the quality of political representation. The reasons for women's underrepresentation remain the subject of much debate. One explanation--that the United States lacks sufficient openings for political newcomers--has become less compelling in recent years, as states that have adopted term limits have not seen the expected gains in women's office holding. Other accounts about candidate scarcity, gender inequalities in society, and the lingering effects of gendered socialization have some merit; however, these accounts still fail to explain the relatively low numbers. Drawing upon original surveys conducted in 1981 and 2008 by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) of women state legislators across all fifty states, and follow-up interviews after the 2008 survey, the authors find that gender differences in pathways to the legislatures, first evident in 1981, have been surprisingly persistent over time. They find that, while the ambition framework better explains men's decisions to run for office, a relationally embedded model of candidate emergence better captures women's decision-making, with women's decisions more often influenced by the encouragement and support of parties, organizations, and family members. By rethinking the nature of women's representation, this study calls for a reorientation of academic research on women's election to office and provides insight into new strategies for political practitioners concerned about women's political equality.

Download or read book The State Legislature written by Malcolm E. Jewell and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Congressional Record written by United States. Congress and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 1380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Political Networks written by Jennifer Nicoll Victor and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 1011 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Politics is intuitively about relationships, but until recently the network perspective has not been a dominant part of the methodological paradigm that political scientists use to study politics. This volume is a foundational statement about networks in the study of politics.

Download or read book Legislative Voting and Accountability written by John M. Carey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-12-15 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legislatures are the core representative institutions in modern democracies. Citizens want legislatures to be decisive, and they want accountability, but they are frequently disillusioned with the representation legislators deliver. Political parties can provide decisiveness in legislatures, and they may provide collective accountability, but citizens and political reformers frequently demand another type of accountability from legislators – at the individual level. Can legislatures provide both kinds of accountability? This book considers what collective and individual accountability require and provides the most extensive cross-national analysis of legislative voting undertaken to date. It illustrates the balance between individualistic and collective representation in democracies, and how party unity in legislative voting shapes that balance. In addition to quantitative analysis of voting patterns, the book draws on extensive field and archival research to provide an extensive assessment of legislative transparency throughout the Americas.

Download or read book American Legislative Leaders 1850 1910 written by Charles F. Ritter and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1989-09-26 with total page 1168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was a time of civil war and economic shift from an agrarian to an industrial society for the 1,390 speakers of state houses of representatives profiled in this unique biographical dictionary. The political climate and characteristics of the politicians as a group are surveyed in introductory material. This is followed by biographical entries which include a list of sources. The cumulated bibliography, arranged by state, is valuable. . . . There is no other such directory. Library Journal On the whole it is a useful compilation, providing a starting point for research into the lives of a cross-section of legislators in this period. . . . A necessary purchase for research libraries; recommended to all academic libraries with strong collections in state history. Choice During the years 1850-1910, the United States evolved from an agrarian to an industrial political economy. By the end of the century, industrialization has shifted the entire political system toward national government power, beginning a trend that continues today. An understanding of the importance of state government and, in particular, of the lower houses of the legislatures at this time is crucial to an understanding of how American politics was transformed in the second half of the nineteenth century. This study compares the speakers of these influential nineteenth-century American political bodies and focuses on the legislative issues of the period. The largest collection of biographical data of its kind to date, the book profiles the 1,390 speakers in the period from 1850 to 1910. The collective career analysis of the individuals covered provides an unprecedented exploration of the socioeconomic issues, the governmental processes, and the political behavior of the times to allow a more thorough understanding of the transition from an agrarian to an industrial state. This comprehensive study of state political power will provide fresh insight into the American legislative system of the latter half of the nineteenth century and will be of special value to scholars of American political history and political science.

Download or read book Devolution and Black State Legislators written by Tyson King-Meadows and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Devolution and Black State Legislators examines whether black state legislators can produce qualitative gains in the substantive representation of black interests. Once a battle cry by southern conservatives, "new federalism" has shifted power from Washington to the respective state governments and, ironically, has done so as black state legislators grow in number. Tyson King-Meadows and Thomas F. Schaller look at the debates surrounding black political incorporation, the tradeoffs between substantive and descriptive representation, racial redistricting, and the impact of black legislators on state budgetary politics. They situate contemporary constraints on black state elites as the union of macro- and micro-level forces, which allows for a reconsideration of how the idiosyncrasies of political, economic, and geographic culture converge with the internal dynamics of state legislative processes to produce particular environments. Interviews with black legislators provide valuable insights into how such idiosyncrasies may deprive institutional advancement—committee assignments, chairmanships, and party leadership positions—of the influence it once afforded.

Download or read book Term Limits in State Legislatures written by John M. Carey and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2009-11-12 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been predicted that term limits in state legislatures--soon to be in effect in eighteen states--will first affect the composition of the legislatures, next the behavior of legislators, and finally legislatures as institutions. The studies in Term Limits in State Legislatures demonstrate that term limits have had considerably less effect on state legislatures than proponents predicted. The term-limit movement--designed to limit the maximum time a legislator can serve in office--swept through the states like wildfire in the first half of the 1990s. By November 2000, state legislators will have been "term limited out" in eleven states. This book is based on a survey of nearly 3,000 legislators from all fifty states along with intensive interviews with twenty-two legislative leaders in four term-limited states. The data were collected as term limits were just beginning to take effect in order to capture anticipatory effects of the reform, which set in as soon as term limit laws were passed. In order to understand the effects of term limits on the broader electoral arena, the authors also examine data on advancement of legislators between houses of state legislatures and from the state legislatures to Congress. The results show that there are no systematic differences between term limit and non-term limit states in the composition of the legislature (e.g., professional backgrounds, demographics, ideology). Yet with respect to legislative behavior, term limits decrease the time legislators devote to securing pork and heighten the priority they place on the needs of the state and on the demands of conscience relative to district interests. At the same time, with respect to the legislature as an institution, term limits appear to be redistributing power away from majority party leaders and toward governors and possibly legislative staffers. This book will be of interest both to political scientists, policymakers, and activists involved in state politics. John M. Carey is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis. Richard G. Niemi is Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester. Lynda W. Powell is Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester.

Download or read book Representational Style in Congress written by Justin Grimmer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-23 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book demonstrates the consequences of legislators' strategic communication for representation in American politics. Representational Style in Congress shows how legislators present their work to cultivate constituent support. Using a massive new data set of texts from legislators and new statistical techniques to analyze the texts, this book provides comprehensive measures of what legislators say to constituents and explains why legislators adopt these styles. Using the new measures, Justin Grimmer shows how legislators affect how constituents evaluate their representatives and the consequences of strategic statements for political discourse. The introduction of new statistical techniques for political texts allows a more comprehensive and systematic analysis of what legislators say and why it matters than was previously possible. Using these new techniques, the book makes the compelling case that to understand political representation, we must understand what legislators say to constituents.

Download or read book Political Ambition written by Linda L. Fowler and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do politicians decide whether or not to run for Congress? What is involved in the winnowing process that dictates, months before the election, the choices available to voters on the ballot? Using extensive interviews and analyses of district data and opinion polls, Linda Fowler and Robert McClure argue that House elections are intelligible only if we look beyond that declared candidates to those who could have run but chose not to. Their book, set in New York’s can Congressional District during the elections of 1984 and 1986, assesses the personal and contextual factors that motivate some individuals to enter a House race and induce others to remain on the sidelines. By uncovering the hidden obstacles that line the road to Washington, Fowler and McClure reveal why only the most ambitious men and women complete the journey. Fowler and McClure contend that the cost cna complexity of competitive House races now demand a level of commitment and advance planning that only those with a highly focused desire to serve in Congress can sustain. Despite the increased presence of national parties and PACs in congressional races, they say, it is the local political context that dominates the decision to run. Within this setting, individual candidates, not party organizations develop the strategies, manage the resources, and define the alternatives in most House races. Fowler and McClure discuss how changes in American politics such as reapportionment, the redistribution of power away from Washington, and the transformation of parties and interest groups affect the nation's supply of competitive office-seekers. And they devote special attention to the recruitment of female legislators, offering insight into the continued failure of women to make significant inroads into the House of Representatives.