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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.
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.
Media, politicians, and the courts portray college campuses as
divided over diversity and affirmative action. But what do students
and faculty really think? This book uses a novel technique to
elicit honest opinions from students and faculty and measure
preferences for diversity in undergraduate admissions and faculty
recruitment at seven major universities, breaking out attitudes by
participants' race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, and
political partisanship. Scholarly excellence is a top priority
everywhere, but the authors show that when students consider
individual candidates, they favor members of all traditionally
underrepresented groups - by race, ethnicity, gender, and
socio-economic background. Moreover, there is little evidence of
polarization in the attitudes of different student groups. The book
reveals that campus communities are less deeply divided than they
are often portrayed to be; although affirmative action remains
controversial in the abstract, there is broad support for
prioritizing diversity in practice.
Media, politicians, and the courts portray college campuses as
divided over diversity and affirmative action. But what do students
and faculty really think? This book uses a novel technique to
elicit honest opinions from students and faculty and measure
preferences for diversity in undergraduate admissions and faculty
recruitment at seven major universities, breaking out attitudes by
participants' race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, and
political partisanship. Scholarly excellence is a top priority
everywhere, but the authors show that when students consider
individual candidates, they favor members of all traditionally
underrepresented groups - by race, ethnicity, gender, and
socio-economic background. Moreover, there is little evidence of
polarization in the attitudes of different student groups. The book
reveals that campus communities are less deeply divided than they
are often portrayed to be; although affirmative action remains
controversial in the abstract, there is broad support for
prioritizing diversity in practice.
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.
When Boris Yeltsin calls out the tanks and shells parliament, or when he pins medals on veterans, both acts are called executive decrees, but we do not understand both to be equivalent examples of executive discretion over policymaking. Executives increasingly take (or are given) the authority to act without concurrent legislative action. This book offers a theory of political institutions that predicts when executives should turn to decree and when legislatures should accept--or even prefer--this method of making policy. Extensive case studies demonstrate how decree has been used and abused in widely different political environments.
Legislative term limits are the most important electoral reform on the political agenda in the United States. Term Limits and Legislative Representation tests the central arguments made by both supporters and opponents of the reform by examining the experience of Costa Rica, the only long-term democracy to impose term limits on legislators, and by providing extensive comparisons with legislatures in Venezuela and the United States. Professor Carey challenges claims made about the effects of term limits on political careers, on pork barrel politics, and on the effectiveness of political parties in passing their programs.
In recent years renewed attention has been directed to the
importance of the role of institutional design in democratic
politics. Particular interest has concerned constitutional design
and the relative merits of parliamentary versus presidential
systems. A virtual consensus has formed around the argument that
parliamentary systems are preferable overall to presidential
systems, due largely to the loss of power to the executive and
assembly in presidential systems. In this book, the authors
systematically assess the strengths and weaknesses of various forms
of presidential systems, drawing on recent developments in the
theoretical literature about institutional design and electoral
rules. They develop a typology of democratic regimes that are
structured around the separation of powers principle, including two
hybrid forms, the premier-presidential and president-parliamentary
systems, and they evaluate a number of alternative ways of
balancing powers between the branches within these basic
frameworks. They also demonstrate that electoral rules are
critically important in determining how authority can be exercised
within these systems, describing the range of electoral rules that
can be instituted and the effects they have on the shape of party
systems, on the political agenda, and on the prospects for
cooperation between presidents and assemblies.
In recent years renewed attention has been directed to the importance of the role of institutional design in democratic politics. Particular interest has concerned constitutional design and the relative merits of parliamentary versus presidential systems. A virtual consensus has formed around the argument that parliamentary systems are preferable overall to presidential systems, due largely to the loss of power to the executive and assembly in presidential systems. In this book, the authors systematically assess the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of presidential systems, drawing on recent developments in the theoretical literature about institutional design and electoral rules. They develop a typology of democratic regimes that are structured around the separation of powers principle, including two hybrid forms, the premier-presidential and president-parliamentary systems, and they evaluate a number of alternative ways of balancing powers between the branches within these basic frameworks. They also demonstrate that electoral rules are critically important in determining how authority can be exercised within these systems, describing the range of electoral rules that can be instituted and the effects they have on the shape of party systems, on the political agenda, and on the prospects for cooperation between presidents and assemblies.
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.
Legislative term limits are the most important electoral reform on the political agenda in the United States. Term Limits and Legislative Representation tests the central arguments made by both supporters and opponents of the reform by examining the experience of Costa Rica, the only long-term democracy to impose term limits on legislators, and by providing extensive comparisons with legislatures in Venezuela and the United States. Professor Carey challenges claims made about the effects of term limits on political careers, on pork barrel politics, and on the effectiveness of political parties in passing their programs.
When Boris Yeltsin calls out the tanks and shells parliament, or when he pins medals on veterans, both acts are called executive decrees, but we do not understand both to be equivalent examples of executive discretion over policymaking. Executives increasingly take (or are given) the authority to act without concurrent legislative action. This book offers a theory of political institutions that predicts when executives should turn to decree and when legislatures should accept--or even prefer--this method of making policy. Extensive case studies demonstrate how decree has been used and abused in widely different political environments.
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