Showing papers in "The Journal of Politics in 1975"

Policy Responsiveness to Protest-Group Demands

Abstract: P OLMCAL SCIENTISTS have long been concerned with electoral activity and formal interest-group activity as methods of citizen participation linking public policy preferences to governmental outputs.' However, as a means of assuring that public policy corresponds to citizen preferences, both of these modes of participation have their limitations. For example, Verba and Nie argue that "voting can provide a lot of pressure on leaders (especially if

Parents as “Middlepersons” in Political Socialization

Abstract: ALTHOUGH RECENT RESEARCH has challenged the simplistic views about the family's dominance in shaping the political character of the young, there is no doubt that the family remains an important agent of political socialization.' Most typically the family's influence is assessed by linking certain parental characteristics to certain observed outcomes in the offspring. These characteristics are usually taken as given: little attention is paid to how the parents came to be the way they are and how that might affect the socialization of their children. In the interest of parsimony, if nothing else, this emphasis is well placed. Yet socialization within the family is not simply a two-generation phenomenon, for the parents themselves were once the socializees instead of the socializers. Parents do not spring forth without a history, nor do they cease to have historical impact when they expire. They are the links to the past as well as to the future. Having received and often qualified the political legacy of their own par-

“Friends and Neighbors” Voting: Mississippi, 1943–73

Abstract: ALMOST A QUARTER CENTURY ago V. 0. Key, Jr. published his landmark Southern Politics, an exhaustive study of the one party politics which dominated the eleven states of the former Confederacy.' One of his dramatic observations, that of \"friends and neighbors\" voting, has gained the status of a political truism. Donald E. Stokes and Warren E. Miller have shown that voters are more aware of a congressional candidate who resides in their community rather than outside it.2 Such evidence lends credence to Key's argument, but researchers as yet have not applied statistical measures directly to the electoral pattern which he outlined. Key said: \"Candidates for state office tend to poll overwhelming majorities in their home counties and to draw heavy support in adjacent counties.\"3 Recently, two scholars provided an index to \"friends and neighbors\" voting for George Wallace in Alabama.4 They assumed that all counties voting at least 45 percent for Wallace in his first Democratic primary, and voting above the statewide percentage for him in each successive election, represented his \"friends and neighbors\

Primary Divisiveness and General Election Success: A Re-examination

Abstract: IS A CANDIDATE for elective office helped or harmed by a divisive primary election experience? The usual assumption is, of course, that the candidate's prospects are harmed because hotly contested primaries intensify the conflicts between different elements within the party. Such intraparty conflicts contribute to the loss of votes in the general election, for supporters of the loser either vote for the opposition or abstain from participating altogether. An abundant literature, both scholarly and journalistic, testifies to the destructiveness of divisive primary campaigns. The mood is wel expressed by Theodore H. White:

Judicial Policy-Making and Southern School Segregation.

Abstract: IN Brown v. Board of Education the United States Supreme Court set new constitutional standards in the field of race relations law by declaring that in public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" was no longer valid.' The effect of this decision was to establish a new national policy calling for massive desegregation throughout the country, and particularly in the Southern region. The primary responsibility for implementing the national policy at the local level was given to school authorities, who were to remain under the surveillance of the equity jurisdiction of the federal district courts.2 The Supreme Court reasoned that because of their proximity to local conditions the district courts were best suited to accept the burden of judicial appraisal of school board actions. In subsequent years the Court periodically reaffirmed this position and conferred substantial powers on the district courts to facilitate the policy implementation process.3 The events which transpired in the South during the two decades following the Brown decision have been well chronicled in the pop-

Black Politics in the South: A Descriptive Analysis

Abstract: VJEWS ON BLACK AMERICANS and electoral politics have never been so diverse. Yet most perspectives seem to fall into one of two broad categories: (1) the political pessimists, and (2) the political optimists. Within the last decade a number of civil rights activists have argued that black participation in traditional electoral politics, in registration and in elections, can bring about significant improvements in oppressive conditions. In the mid-1960s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said: "If Negroes could vote . . . there would be no more oppressive poverty directed against Negroes, our children would not be crippled by segregated schools, and the whole community might live together in harmony."'1 This optimistic perspective on electoral politics has not been limited to civil rights leaders. Numerous policy-oriented social scientists, particularly those pessimistic about the politics of violence, have accentuated the importance of black participation in traditional politics. Andrew Greeley has argued that most militant action by blacks, violent or

Presidential Vetoes from Washington to Nixon

Abstract: THIS PAPER seeks to analyze, on the basis of aggregate data, how and why the exercise of presidential veto power has varied in history. The focus of analysis is the frequency of presidential vetoes and congressional overriding actions, both of which are aggregated over each Congress to yield one of the longest timeseries data available on the interrelationships between president and Congress. This research proceeded with an assumption that some regularities found in veto behavior can shed light on the contention of power or conflict of roles between two vital national institutions. A series of descriptive, predictive, and explanatory hypotheses on veto behavior is investigated here with the aid of multiple regression methods. First, an attempt is made to delineate patterns of interaction on the veto with a focus on possible trends or cycles over the years. Then, three kinds of variables are examined

A Causal Model of State Welfare Expenditures

Abstract: AN IMPORTANT AND GROWING LITERATURE in political science concerns political system outputs. Since Key's pioneering Southern Politics, several studies have attempted to discover which'political, social, and economic variables affect the level of public expenditures. Key argued that interparty competition determines the extent to which policy outputs are responsive to the needs and wishes of "have-not" groups in society.

Who Wins in Conference Committee

Abstract: THERE IS NO AREA of congressional decision-making about which there is less academic consensus than there is about the conference committee. The major studies-by Fenno,' Manley,2 Steiner,3 and Vogler4-have come to disparate conclusions which, at least on the surface, seem difficult to reconcile with each other. Each of these studies poses the question, "Who wins in conference, the House or the Senate?" To settle the question, each develops his own measure of who wins. Briefly, Steiner found that in his sample of conference decisions, the House generally prevails. Fenno and Vogler each discovered a pattern of Senate dominance. Fenno worked only with appropriations conferences while Vogler assembled a much broader sample of legislative as well as appropriations conferences. Manley found that, among conferences between Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate prevailed on certain issues (revenues, trade), while the House dominated on social security legislation. For several reasons these findings should not be accepted as they

Amateurs and Professionals: Delegates to the 1972 Republican National Convention

Abstract: O VER A DECADE HAS PASSED since James Q. Wilson described the emergence of a "new kind of politician" who had become active in the organizational reform struggles of local Democratic parties after the Second World War.' Wilson's classification of amateur and professional organizations has been widely utilized by subsequent researchers to distinguish the basic differences in political attitudes and motives among party activists. According to his original defi-

Political Competence, Political Trust, and Action Orientations of University Students

Abstract: COMPARED TO MASS PUBLICS IN OTHER NATIONS, a relatively large number of Americans believe that they are politically competentthat they are able to influence political affairs. And yet, over the past several years we have witnessed the estrangement of substantial portions of the American citizenry from the political systeman estrangement accompanied by an increase in popular distrust of government.' As concepts, political competence and political trust have occu-

The Impact of Broadcast Campaigning on Electoral Outcomes

Abstract: IN 1971 CONGRESS passed a law aimed at curbing the rising cost of political campaigning by restricting the amount of money candidates for federal office may spend on a variety of campaign media, including television and radio.' More recently, overall restrictions on campaign expenditures have been enacted.2 The principal justification for these reforms is that they will limit the influence of money and the moneyed on elections and, consequently, on the political process as a whole. The most obvious danger of such restrictions is that they will make it more difficult than ever to unseat incumbents, who already enjoy excessive electoral advantages. This paper is intended to contribute to an assessment of the potential consequences of specific kinds of spending limitations through an analysis of the impact of radio and television campaign expenditures on electoral outcomes. The effects of broadcast spending will be measured in conjunction with those of incumbency and constituency party strength in order to provide necessary controls and to determine the comparative impact of these two additional variables on election results.

The Hidden Dimension of Public Policy: Private Governments and the Policy-Making Process

Abstract: P UBLIC POLICY, like obscenity, is usually defined in practice by Justice Potter Stewart's maxim: "I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it." On a superficial level, most definitions are in basic agreement and differences are primarily semantic. Overcoming the diversity of more specific definitions, the new Policy Studies Organization defines policy as "actual and potential government programs and actions designed to cope with various social problems."' More specifically, Robert Salisbury's definition states: "Public policy consists in authoritative or sanctioned decisions by governmental actors. It refers to the 'substance' of what government does and is to be distinguished from the processes by which decisions are made. Policy here means the outcomes or outputs of governmental processes."2 Common to these and most other definitions of public policy is the broad notion that public policy is what government does. What differences there are in definitions involve policy-the question of defining that "what" in what government does. It is widely as-

Political Efficacy and Political Illusion

Abstract: ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO Murray Edelman observed that much of mass political imagery consists of beliefs based not on empirical reality, but on needs and anxieties fulfilling personal, not political functions. As he put it: "It [lore about the state] includes much that is plainly contrary to what we see happen, yet the myth is all the more firmly believed and the more dogmatically passed on to others because men want to believe it and it holds them together."' The proposition that the mass public usually brings to bear only the most limited degree of understanding on remote political matters has been well documented in the survey research literature.2 Unfortunately, however, while such analyses generally support Edelman's contention, little research attention has been given to which particular beliefs are reality-contingent and which are perhaps better described as political fantasy. This paper considers the reality basis of a concept enjoying considerable popularity in survey research-sense of political efficacy. Though different researchers employ varying definitions and operational indicators of this concept, a clear consensus exists that a

Congressional Policy Making: A Test of a Theory

Abstract: I N GROUPS CHARGED with making collective decisions, two basic processes operate: each individual member must make a decision and these decisions must be aggregated by some process or mechanism to yield a collective decision. Clearly both the means of aggregation (i.e., the decision rule) and individual decisions can affect the specific collective decision made. In turn this makes it necessary in explaining the making of particular collective decisions that we account for why sets of individual decisions were made as well as showing how these decisions were aggregated. This can be a difficult task when the group is small, where the decision rule is simple and straightforward, and where interpersonal authority relationships do not exist. But for large groups with complex decision rules and interpersonal authority relationships, many extremely complex problems exist in trying to explain the making of particular collective decisions. This is all the more serious in that many of the collective decisions and organizations of interest to political scientists are of the latter type. The U. S. Congress is one such organization. Its relatively large size and complex internal decision making process make the task

Tolerance, Consensus, and the Democratic Creed: A Contextual Exploration

Abstract: IN HIS PRESCIENT STUDY of public opinion, the late V. 0. Key tried to lay to rest the "sociological ghosts" that dance attendance on the concepts of consensus and public opinion.' Thus, in defining public opinion for operational use, Key fused a stipulative definition, common language analysis, and common-sense empiricism. Public opinion "may be taken to mean those opinions held by private persons which governments find it prudent to heed."2 From a first consideration of public opinion, Key next moved to give definitional raiment to the concept of consensus. The step from public opinion to consensus is a logical one; in the standard

Interparty Competition and State Social Welfare Policy: When a Difference Makes a Difference

Abstract: HE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERPARTY competition and state social welfare policies has received considerable attention among students of comparative state politics.' Political scientists investigating such relationships typically employ linear correlation and regression techniques, and only recently have they begun to examine the possibility of nonlinear relationships among environmental, political, and policy output variables. This note examines the conclusions of one of these, Glen Broach's "Interparty Competition, State Welfare Policies, and Nonlinear Regression."2

Absolute Democracy or Indefeasible Right: Hobbes Versus Locke

Abstract: A PERVASIVE TENSION EXISTS within the American political tradition between democracy (the rule of the majority of citizens, restricted only by minimal standards of competence) and liberalism (the insistence that certain basic human freedoms are beyond abridgement). On the one hand, the claim of the majority to have its will carries great weight; on the other, the protest that certain rights, or liberties, are beyond the rightful purview of the majority's will is equally strongly asserted. Attempted reconciliation of the two arguments based on the claim that the liberties asserted are merely the conditions of democracy, may be pragmatically attractive, but merely obscures the fact that the majority's claim to rule as it wills is, in fact, abridged.' This tension exhibits itself at all degrees of reflectiveness within the tradition.

Normative Political Analysis and the Problem of Justification: The Cognitive Status of Basic Political Norms

Abstract: IN RECENT AND CONTEMPORARY political inquiry, the justification of our statements about political affairs has been properly related to their basis in systematic, rigorous processes of empirical inquiry and rational analysis. Indeed, these processes have been the basis for distinguishing valid, cognitive assertions from those which are accorded a noncognitive status since the latter, presumably, rest upon such unreliable bases as emotion, intuition, tradition, and authority. Although initially excluded on essentially a priori grounds from participating in the development of a scientifically valid body of knowledge, recent analytical efforts in a variety of areas have persuasively argued that normative inquiry-if it is, indeed, serious inquiryemploys similar validating tools of analysis in reaching its conclusions.' This has been explicitly recognized by several political scientists and applied to a variety of normative questions. These include studies which have suggested (1) the logical implications of certain ethical principles for social or political action within the con-

The Soviet Experience and the Measurement of Power

Abstract: OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES, specialists on the Soviet Union have been grappling with the problem of reconceptualizing the Soviet political system. All have come to recognize the existence of groups and group activities in the Soviet Union, and some have no hesitation in using the term "interest group." All have come to recognize some element of pluralism among the Soviet elite, and some are willing even to move away from Gabriel Almond's emphasis upon the lack of "autonomy" among the elites. Whatever label or image is employed, everyone now sees a relationship between the leadership and the top elite that is far different from that depicted in the totalitarian model. In the past the bureaucracy, the New Class (even those at the level of Central Committee members) were included among the acted-upon, but now even those who retain a directed-society view of the Soviet Union have almost all slipped into talking about a society directed or dominated by an elite rather than the political leader or Politburo. But what about the relationship between the masses (the bottom 85-90 percent of the population) and the elite-either a broadly defined elite such as the top 10-15 percent of the population or a more narrowly defined political elite? Relatively little attention has been given to this question-except perhaps by those who suggest (wrongly, I think) that the fall of Khrushchev brought the end of a period of populism, an end to a period emphasizing "public-

Sequences of Change and the Political Economy of Public Corporations: Kenya

Abstract: HERE IS A WIDESPREAD ASSESSMENT throughout Africa and Asia that the promotion of economic growth is too important for the people to leave in the hands of the private sector. Yet, economic development has proved an elusive task for the regular units of the public bureaucracy alone. An increasingly common response to this dilemma is to establish public enterprises with mandates to operate as commercial organizations while at the same time serving the demands of the nation as expressed by its political leaders. Our concern here is with the response of public corporations to fundamental changes in the nature of the political elite and the direction of public policy. Public corporations are quasi-autonomous agencies, free from civil service regulations, detailed public treasury procedures, or ministerial supervision. Public enterprises are not, however, insulated from the dynamics of their political environment. They are an integral part of the political process.

Parameters of "Rational" Voting: Vote Switching in the 1968 Election

Abstract: THE ARGUMENT that voters fail to meet many of the expectations generated by traditional democratic theory has been greatly enhanced by survey based voting studies.1 Before attempting to reformulate democratic theory, however, we should first establish that we have interpreted the survey findings correctly. In order profitably to address arguments as to the competence of the electorate, it is necessary to understand, empirically, the process by which voters arrive at their voting decisions. Since publication of The

Democracy and Civil Disobedience

Abstract: IT IS OFTEN ALLEGED that citizens of a democratic country may never violate democratically derived laws. A good democrat may disagree with the laws of his country but will never carry that disagreement to open disobedience. It is maintained that since all proposed legislation is aired in public before its enactment, and since it is voted into law by representatives of the people (in all contemporary democracies, at any rate), a special obligation devolves upon the democratic citizen to accept this legislation as binding. The general duty every citizen is assumed to have to obey the laws of his state is thus said to be stronger in a democracy, and it is asserted that it is never (or almost never) right to break a democratically enacted law. On the basis of arguments such as these it is claimed that a good democrat may never engage in civil disobedience. The problem of civil disobedience has received much attention in recent years. No generally accepted definition of 'civil disobedience' has been found. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that civil disobedience involves the public violation of the law of a government recognized as legitimate by the disobedient. It is further safe to assert that any justified act of civil disobedience (assuming that such there be) is likely to be peaceful and characterized by acceptance of the penalty on the part of the disobedient. Three arguments which use the notion of democracy against civil disobedience can be distinguished. The first appeals to some principle such as majority rule. The second asserts that since the citizen