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Full-Text Articles in American Politics
Sustainable Master Planning In Urban Politics And Policy: A Service Learning Project, Shannon Jenkins
Sustainable Master Planning In Urban Politics And Policy: A Service Learning Project, Shannon Jenkins
Shannon Jenkins
Despite evidence that service learning projects can have positive effects on students’ learning and civic engagement, such projects are not yet widely utilized in political science. This seems to be driven, in part, by the concern that service learning projects may politicize students. In my Urban Politics and Policy class, I implemented a service learning project that sought to avoid the problem of politicization. This project focused on developing a sustainable master plan in a local community. While the experience had some limitations, assessment data demonstrate a positive impact on my students’ understanding of the material covered in class and …
Party Influence On Roll Call Voting: A View From The U.S. States, Shannon Jenkins
Party Influence On Roll Call Voting: A View From The U.S. States, Shannon Jenkins
Shannon Jenkins
Recent studies have documented that parties influence legislative behavior. But such studies have been unable to distinguish between party voting stemming from ideological agreement and true party influence, as most lack independent measures of legislator ideology and have not been tested at the U.S. state level. Using survey data to control for legislator ideology, this analysis looks at how and under what conditions parties influence voting in three sessions of five state legislatures. The results suggest party influence on voting in the states is partly due to the fact that legislators have similar beliefs and represent similar people. Nonetheless, parties …