Showing papers in "Political Research Quarterly in 2008"
TL;DR: Seven case selection procedures are considered, each of which facilitates a different strategy for within-case analysis and discusses quantitative approaches that meet the goals of the approach, while still requiring information that can reasonably be gathered for a large number of cases.
Abstract: How can scholars select cases from a large universe for in-depth case study analysis? Random sampling is not typically a viable approach when the total number of cases to be selected is small. Hence attention to purposive modes of sampling is needed. Yet, while the existing qualitative literature on case selection offers a wide range of suggestions for case selection, most techniques discussed require in-depth familiarity of each case. Seven case selection procedures are considered, each of which facilitates a different strategy for within-case analysis. The case selection procedures considered focus on typical, diverse, extreme, deviant, influential, most similar, and most different cases. For each case selection procedure, quantitative approaches are discussed that meet the goals of the approach, while still requiring information that can reasonably be gathered for a large number of cases.
2,608 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a continuum of plausibility for natural experiments is defined, defined by the extent to which treatment assignment is plausibly "as if" random, and locates several leading studies along this continuum.
Abstract: Social scientists increasingly exploit natural experiments in their research. This article surveys recent applications in political science, with the goal of illustrating the inferential advantages provided by this research design. When treatment assignment is less than “as if” random, studies may be something less than natural experiments, and familiar threats to valid causal inference in observational settings can arise. The author proposes a continuum of plausibility for natural experiments, defined by the extent to which treatment assignment is plausibly “as if” random, and locates several leading studies along this continuum.
301 citations
TL;DR: Theories of political socialization contain competing expectations about immigrants' potential for political resocialization as mentioned in this paper, and immigrants' beliefs and actions may be resistant to change, exposure t...
Abstract: Theories of political socialization contain competing expectations about immigrants' potential for political resocialization. Premigration beliefs and actions may be resistant to change, exposure t...
147 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the capabilities approach should be extended to account for the environment's instrumental value to human capabilities, and they apply this extended capabilities approach to assess the distribution of benefits and burdens associated with climate change.
Abstract: What principles should guide how society distributes environmental benefits and burdens? Like many liberal theories of justice, Martha Nussbaum’s “capabilities approach” does not adequately address this question. The author argues that the capabilities approach should be extended to account for the environment’s instrumental value to human capabilities. Given this instrumental value, protecting capabilities requires establishing certain environmental conditions as an independent “meta-capability.” When combined with Nussbaum’s nonprocedural method of political justification, this extension provides the basis for adjudicating environmental justice claims. The author applies this extended capabilities approach to assess the distribution of benefits and burdens associated with climate change.
136 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that Evangelical Christians remain strong supporters of a hawkish foreign policy toward the Middle East, even as overall public support for the Iraq War declines, and that Evangelicals are among the strongest supporters of Israel and hold more negative views of Islam than others.
Abstract: The authors argue in this study that religious beliefs play a significant role in predicting American public opinion on foreign policy issues in the Middle East. Their findings reveal that Evangelical Christians have remained strong supporters of a hawkish foreign policy toward the Middle East, even as overall public support for the Iraq War declines. They also find that Evangelicals are among the strongest supporters of Israel and hold more negative views of Islam than others. These results reinforce the growing importance of the “faith factor” in public opinion and American politics as a whole.
128 citations
TL;DR: A common assumption people make about American elections is that women voters will be the most likely source of support for female candidates, a phenomenon referred to as the "gender affinity effec... as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A common assumption people make about American elections is that women voters will be the most likely source of support for female candidates, a phenomenon referred to as the “gender affinity effec...
116 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the potential sites for trailer parks following Hurricane Katrina and found that areas with higher levels of social capital, as evidenced by voting, were slated for fewer trailers, controlling for race, income, education, flood damage, and other relevant factors.
Abstract: To meet the dire need for housing following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials created lists of potential sites for trailer parks. We analyze approved sites to track which factors were linked with larger (or smaller) numbers of trailers and trailer sites per zip code block. Areas which displayed greater levels of social capital, as evidenced by voluntaristic activities such as voting, were slated for fewer trailers, controlling for race, income, education, flood damage, and other relevant factors. Civil society worked simultaneously to bring citizens together while mobilizing them against the threat of trailer parks in their backyards.
113 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that one of the main ways parties attempt to make their case to constituents is through their behavior in legislative debate, which provides a unique opportunity to declare party positions on the coalition compromise.
Abstract: One of the central challenges facing multiparty governments in parliamentary democracies is the need for coalition parties to communicate to their constituents that they have not strayed significantly from their electoral commitments when agreeing to policy compromises. We argue that one of the main ways parties attempt to make their case to constituents is through their behavior in legislative debate. Debate provides a unique opportunity—tied directly to the policy the government is implementing—to declare party positions on the coalition compromise. In an analysis of several hundred legislative speeches in two parliamentary democracies, we show that coalition parties communicate with constituents much more extensively on internally divisive issues, especially as the next parliamentary elections draw near. We also demonstrate contextual and institutional effects (including the impact of junior ministers) that complement emerging findings in the literature on coalition governance.
111 citations
TL;DR: This article examined how religious conservatism has shaped Anglo, Latino, and black partisanship over two decades and found that the GOP has been most successful in recruiting Anglos, followed by Latinos.
Abstract: The Republican Party has aggressively attempted to recruit black and Latino Evangelicals; however, the success of these efforts has been questioned. The authors argue that the GOP's diminished success in recruiting these groups, compared to Anglos, is based on differing religious worldviews. Using data that allow them to track partisanship over two decades, the authors examine how religious conservatism has shaped Anglo, Latino, and black partisanship. They find that the GOP has been most successful in recruiting Anglos, followed by Latinos. Blacks appear to be unaffected. In addition, they find support for their underlying assumption of differing religious worldviews among the racial/ethnic groups.
107 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the role played by different sources of threat perception in shaping exclusionist political attitudes of the majority toward two distinct minority groups in Israel: non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Abstract: This article tests the role played by different sources of threat perception in shaping exclusionist political attitudes of the majority toward two distinct minority groups in Israel: non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The authors distinguish between the impact of security, economic, and symbolic threats on exclusionist political attitudes. A structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that regardless of the different levels of each threat posed by a minority group, a perceived security threat is a key predictor of exclusionist political attitudes toward different minority groups.
97 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the parties through the briefs submitted on the merits have the ability to influence the content of the opinions of the Supreme Court, through the submission of arguments.
Abstract: Do parties' briefs influence the content of Supreme Court opinions? The author contends that the parties, through the briefs submitted on the merits, have the ability to influence the content of op...
TL;DR: In this paper, three dimensions of religion, namely religious affiliation, religious commitment, and religious belief, were operationalized to analyze how religion affects presidential approval ratings, and the results showed that religious commitment was correlated with presidential approval.
Abstract: We operationalize three dimensions of religion—religious affiliation, religious commitment, and religious belief—to offer a detailed analysis of how religion affects presidential approval ratings. ...
TL;DR: The authors argues that polarization and the culture wars are a consequence of the changing nature of white identity after the civil rights movement, and that normalizing this middle and the snobs as white polarized whites along partisan and ideological lines, creating an incentive to win votes by appealing to hot-button cultural issues such as welfare, abortion and gay marriage.
Abstract: Scholars tend to agree that American politics has become polarized along partisan and ideological lines, yet the causes of polarization are in much dispute. The author argues that polarization and the culture wars are a consequence, in part, of the changing nature of white identity after the civil rights movement. The transformation of whiteness from a form of social standing to a norm produced ressentiment among whites, which Republican strategists mobilized by depicting Democrats as the party of intellectual snobs and undeserving rabble and the GOP as the party of the virtuous middle. Normalizing this middle and the snobs as white polarized whites along partisan and ideological lines, creating an incentive to win votes by appealing to hot-button cultural issues such as welfare, abortion, and gay marriage.
TL;DR: The impact of political ads paid for by candidates is amplified because of the free media coverage they receive as mentioned in this paper. Yet how frequently does that occur? And are certain types of ads more likely to be c...
Abstract: The impact of political ads paid for by candidates is amplified because of the free media coverage they receive. Yet how frequently does that occur? And are certain types of ads more likely to be c...
TL;DR: While theoretical justifications predict that a judge's gender and race may influence judicial decisions, empirical support for these arguments has been mixed as discussed by the authors, however, recent increases in judicial diversity have been mixed.
Abstract: While theoretical justifications predict that a judge's gender and race may influence judicial decisions, empirical support for these arguments has been mixed. However, recent increases in judicial...
TL;DR: For example, this article found that the presence of a woman on the ballot expands the range of issue coverage in local campaigns in ways favorable to perceived strengths of female candidates, and that the media coverage is not biased in favor of male candidates.
Abstract: Some research on gender bias in news coverage of political campaigns indicates that the media portray male and female candidates differently. Research to date, however, has focused only on elections to national or statewide offices, where confounding variables such as party, incumbency, and competitiveness are present. The authors resolve this problem by focusing their analysis of media campaign coverage on nonpartisan, open-seat, and competitive mayoral races. The authors’ content analysis of press coverage in six mayoral elections suggests that press coverage is not biased in favor of male candidates. The authors, however, find that the presence of a woman on the ballot expands the range of issue coverage in local campaigns in ways favorable to perceived strengths of female candidates.
TL;DR: This article found that candidate attempts to influence voter issue salience are most effective when the media focus on the same topics. But their results were limited to the early stages of the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election.
Abstract: Though research has shown that candidates and the media can influence the importance voters ascribe to political issues, little work has sought to test the interactive agenda-setting effects of each—in particular, to determine whether the ability of candidates to set the public's agenda depends on the media's willingness to reflect their issue emphases. Using an experiment conducted during the early stages of the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election, the author shows that candidate attempts to influence voter issue salience are most effective when the media focus on the same topics. The findings suggest the value for candidates of enlisting the news media in helping to pass their messages along and serve as a point of departure for more work on the influence of candidate-media agenda convergence.
Abstract: The notion that issues and ideology can move partisanship remains controversial. The authors explore the stronger claim that issues can lead people to switch political parties and whether the effect of abortion attitudes is asymmetrical (i.e., abortion attitudes may influence party switching in only one direction). They show that in several short-term National Election Studies panels, pro-life Democrats were significantly more likely than other Democrats to become Republicans, but pro-choice Republicans were not likely to become Democrats. However, using panel data over a long time frame, 1982 to 1997, the authors also demonstrate that the cumulative effect of abortion attitudes led pro-life Democrats and pro-choice Republicans to switch parties.
TL;DR: The authors examined the influence of campaign election laws on patterns of candidacy in state legislative elections and found that low contribution limits increase challenger emergence in general elections, while other factors, such as ballot access laws and district political variables, in influencing rates of contestation in primary and general elections.
Abstract: This article examines the influence of campaign election laws on patterns of candidacy in state legislative elections. Previous studies demonstrate that restrictions on campaign contributions affect levels of campaign spending and competition, but do such legal conditions influence the likelihood that incumbents running for reelection are even challenged? How important is this effect relative to other factors, such as ballot access laws and district political variables, in influencing rates of contestation in primary and general elections? Analyses of state- and district-level features in 1994, 1996, and 1998 show that low contribution limits increase challenger emergence in general elections.
TL;DR: This article examined the impact of domestic politics on U.S. asylum approval rates across countries of origin and found that media and congressional attention play an important role in influencing how the executive branch makes enforcement decisions.
Abstract: What explains variation in U.S. asylum approval rates across countries of origin? Previous research has found that humanitarian factors and diplomatic relations play an important role in shaping asylum decisions. This article examines the impact of domestic politics. The authors find that media and congressional attention play an important role in influencing how the executive branch makes enforcement decisions. Popular attention to asylum increases the importance of humanitarian concerns relative to instrumental factors. The effect of congressional attention depends on whether asylum is seen as an enforcement or humanitarian issue. The importance of these factors has also changed over time.
TL;DR: This paper found that whites' attitudes toward welfare spending and social spending are structured in two-dimensional terms and stereotypical beliefs about the work ethic of blacks systematically constrain their welfare attitudes and do not affect attitudes toward other social programs.
Abstract: Scholars have known for some time that attitudes toward federal spending on welfare are shaped by racial antipathies. Are attitudes toward spending on nonwelfare social programs similarly grounded? This article explores the dimensionality of spending attitudes and the extent to which they are rooted in stereotypical beliefs about blacks. Analysis of data from the 1992, 1996, and 2000 National Election Studies demonstrates that whites' attitudes toward welfare spending and social spending are structured in two-dimensional terms and that stereotypical beliefs about the work ethic of blacks systematically constrain their welfare attitudes and do not affect attitudes toward other social programs.
TL;DR: A contemporary rise in multiracial self-identification provokes a number of questions about the significance that this racial identity may hold for American politics as discussed by the authors, focusing on the p...
Abstract: A contemporary rise in multiracial self-identification provokes a number of questions about the significance that this racial identity may hold for American politics. This research focuses on the p...
TL;DR: For example, this paper found evidence of increased constituency bill sponsorship and participation among originally elected senators after the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in the early-twentieth century, shifting the audience for senators' reelection efforts with measurable behavioral consequences.
Abstract: The author argues that direct election intensified existing electoral incentives in the early-twentieth-century Senate, shifting the audience for senators' reelection efforts with measurable behavioral consequences. The author examines patterns of bill sponsorship, roll-call participation, and party voting in the decades surrounding the Seventeenth Amendment's ratification, a time when originally elected and originally selected senators served side by side. The author finds evidence of increased sponsorship and participation among originally elected senators. Comparing behavioral patterns before and after the constitutional amendment also reveals other important behavioral shifts toward a mass audience in the post-amendment period, including a tendency to increase constituency bill sponsorship immediately before reelection and a strengthening of the link between state partisanship and senators' party support voting.
TL;DR: In this paper, an experimental approach to study the micro-dynamics of coalition formation in an unrestricted bargaining environment is presented, where the authors investigate a fundamental feature of sequential coalition bargaining models: expectations about future bargaining behavior will influence current bargaining outcomes.
Abstract: We present an experimental approach to study the micro-dynamics of coalition formation in an unrestricted bargaining environment. Specifically, we investigate a fundamental feature of sequential coalition bargaining models: expectations about future bargaining behavior will influence current bargaining outcomes. To do so, we test the hypothesis that coalition bargaining may lead to inefficient outcomes as agents are unable to effectively commit to preliminary agreements during the bargaining process. We conjecture that communication plays an important role in establishing such commitments. We then experimentally manipulate the communication channels and show that restrictions undermine trust and lead to decreased efficiency.
TL;DR: Pielke et al. as mentioned in this paper developed an alternative perspective on the politics of advisory committees by examining various interpretations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which is the key legislation governing the composition of such committees.
Abstract: The United States Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires advisory committees to be "fairly balanced." By examining legislative, judicial, and administrative interpretations of FACA's balance requirement, this article identifies a prevailing double standard: public officials assess committee members classified as experts in terms of their professional competence, while they assess those classified as representatives in terms of their political interests. Although the prevailing approach seeks to prevent the politicization of expert advice, it actually promotes it. Advisory committee balance is better understood, this article suggests, in terms of social and professional perspectives. This approach avoids both naively apolitical and destructively partisan conceptions of advisory committee balance. It also suggests a promising way to think about the role of technical expertise in public deliberation. Keywords: Federal Advisory Committee Act; political representation; deliberative democracy; expertise Government advisory committees are usually one of the least noticed elements of American politics, but they have come under intense scrutiny in the wake of their misuse by the administration of President George W. Bush. Numerous reports have documented instances in which Bush administration officials have altered or suppressed research findings that conflict with administration policy, vetted nominees to advisory committees to ensure they support the president, and replaced committee members with people more amenable to the administration (United States House of Representatives 2003; Union of Concerned Scientists 2004; Mooney 2005). These charges are often presented as evidence of the "politicization" of science - or as the editor of the prestigious journal Science put it, "an epidemic of politics" (Kennedy 2003). Although the Bush administration's distortion and suppression of science advice has had disastrous consequences, the charge of "politicization" mistakenly suggests the possibility of science advice entirely free of politics. Numerous studies have shown how science advice inevitably combines technical and political considerations (e.g., Jasanoff 1990; Sarewitz 2004; Pielke 2007). Sociotechnical problems today are complex, multifaceted, and fraught with both political and scientific uncertainties. As a result, different scientific disciplines and methodologies generate different assessments, often with conflicting political implications. This means that, in many cases, the composition of government advisory committees is unavoidably political. Moreover, those charging the Bush administration with politicizing science rarely reveal or defend their own value commitments and political interests, instead presenting themselves as defenders of pure science - as though global warming, sex education, or teaching evolution in public schools have remained controversial because of a lack of independent expertise (Sarewitz 2006; Pielke 2007). Issues like these remain controversial, not because science has been politicized but because they involve ongoing conflicts over basic values and interests. Although effectively addressing such issues depends in part on science, efforts to elim- inate politics from science advice inevitably lead to conflicts over what is "political," thus displacing the political conflict onto science. Science becomes a proxy battleground for politics. In this respect, those calling for science advice free of politics are as guilty of politicizing science as their adversaries - even as they simultaneously scientize politics by implying that political questions can be resolved by science (Weingart 1999; Pielke 2007). As a result, the need for inclusive public deliberation and contestation on such issues - informed by science, of course, but not subordinated to it - becomes obscured, and political conflicts become intractable. This article develops an alternative perspective on the politics of advisory committees by examining various interpretations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which is the key legislation governing the composition of such committees. …
TL;DR: For example, the authors examined the results of a survey of Texas attorneys to examine individual-level explanations for representation on state courts and found that women may feel more qualified to serve on the judiciary than they do to serve in other offices.
Abstract: With the work of scholars like Fox and Lawless (2004) and Sanbonmatsu (2002), the discipline of political science began to understand individual-level explanations for women's representation in state legislatures. Such analysis, however, has not been extended to other branches of government, including state judiciaries. To examine individual-level explanations for representation on state courts, this article examines the results of a survey of Texas attorneys. The results of this research suggest that running for the judiciary is somewhat different from running for other office, and future research needs to explore the variation in ambition across types of offices. Keywords: gender; judges; ambition While women increasingly participate in public life across the United States, their participation is not constant across all offices. In 2005, women were 16 percent of state governors, 10 percent of state attorneys general, 22.5 percent of state legislators, and 22 percent of state judges (Center for American Women and Politics 2005; Williams 2004). While few studies find a gender effect in the attainment of office (see, for example, Darcy, Welch, and Clark 1994), more recent scholarship suggests that there is a gender difference in ambition to serve in public life (Lawless and Fox 2005). Past studies examining attainment and ambition for office tend to focus solely on legislative office (Black 1972; Buchanan 1978; Burrell 1996; Carroll 1985, 1994; Copeland 1989; Hibbing 1986; Kazee 1994; Maestas 2000; Mezey 1970; Moncrief, Squire, and Jewell 2001 ; Palmer and Simon 2001,2003; Rohde 1979; Schlesinger 1966; Stone, Maisel, and Maestas 2004; for exceptions, see Fox and Lawless 2004; Lawless and Fox 2005). This article seeks to increase our understanding of women's ambition in political life. Specifically, I examine women's ambition for seats on the state judiciary. To understand judicial ambition, I conducted a survey of a sample of attorneys-the candidate pool for judicial office-in the state of Texas to determine their desire to seek a seat on a state district or appellate court. With few exceptions, political science has failed to explore the variation in the pool of attorneys who could become judges (Heinz and Laumann 1982), and the gender dimension to ambition is rarely considered (Cook 1983). Thus, the importance of this research is twofold. First, it allows political scientists to begin considering the differences in women's rates of election, both among women running for different types of offices and between women and men more generally. Second, the research considers an underexplored institution of government: the judiciary. There is sufficient reason to think that women would exhibit different levels of ambition for judicial office than past scholars found for other offices. First, women's participation in the legal field, a prerequisite for serving on the state bench, has increased significantly since the 1970s. Women's greater representation in legal careers suggests that there are a significant number of women eligible to serve on the judiciary, more so than would potentially exist for some other offices (Cook 1983). With clear guidelines for serving on the judiciary (typically a minimum number of years practicing law) and a clearly defined eligibility pool, women may feel more qualified to serve on the judiciary than they do to serve in other offices. Ambition among women may be higher for the judiciary than for other offices because of the repeated interaction female attorneys have with the judiciary and due to the importance of clerkships in a legal career. Additionally, serving on the judiciary may be more appealing to women who are faced with the demands of billable hours and limited advancement in the legal profession (see, for example, Epstein 1995; O'Brien 2006; Rhode 2001a, 2001b). The judiciary offers these women the alternative of consistent hours and pay, as well as access to a pipeline of higher level judicial office (Bratton and Spill 2004; Bledsoe 1990; Sapiro 1982; Welch and Kamig 1979). …
TL;DR: This paper found that differences in the levels of resources, motivations, and opportunities effectively account for gender gaps within the two populations, and incorporated socialization experiences specific to Mexican Americans to identify the roots of participatory inequality across these groups.
Abstract: This article focuses on gender and ethnic inequalities in political participation across non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans. Using a mainstream model of participation, the authors find that differences in the levels of resources, motivations, and opportunities effectively account for gender gaps within the two populations. However, this mainstream model leaves largely unexplained the chasm in participation across non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans. The authors incorporate socialization experiences specific to Mexican Americans to identify the roots of participatory inequality across these groups. Differences in linguistic, educational, and general assimilation account for participatory differences across Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Equalizing these factors closes the chasm in participation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors model both cabinet terminations and speculative currency attacks and show that changes in the probability of different types of cabinet ends condition the probability that currency traders will sharply shift their assets out of a country.
Abstract: Asset market performance conditions the strategic context of cabinet terminations. In turn, information about cabinet terminations shapes how market actors evaluate the government's commitment to specific policies, affecting overall economic performance. To understand how the economy affects cabinet terminations, therefore, we must account for the endogeneity between cabinet outcomes and market performance. In this article, we model both cabinet terminations and speculative currency attacks. We argue that changes in the probability of different types of cabinet ends condition the probability that currency traders will sharply shift their assets out of a country. In turn, the probability of a speculative attack influences the probabilities of different types of cabinet ends—for instance, the higher the likelihood of speculative attack, the lower the chance of an early strategic election. We connect separate models of cabinet termination and speculative attacks using an instrumental-variables framework.
TL;DR: This article argued that the polarization in American politics is driven by economic, not racial, views, and argued instead that economic views are responsible for the polarization, not race, of American politics.
Abstract: Some scholars see contemporary American politics as characterized by “strange bedfellows” on racial issues and by polarization driven by economic, not racial, views. The authors argue instead that ...
TL;DR: This article introduced the four articles in this issue's minisymposium by explaining how they fit in with an emerging body of scholarship that places race centrally in asking and answering questions about American political development.
Abstract: This piece introduces the four articles in this issue's minisymposium by explaining how they fit in with an emerging body of scholarship that places race centrally in asking and answering questions about American political development. The author identifies common themes and debates among the articles that contribute to understandings of the role of race in American politics and to different approaches in American political development. The author suggests that these articles together generate a new critical purchase on American politics through placing questions about civic membership as a crucial developmental phenomenon at the center of the analysis.