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Explaining Ballot Initiative Contest Outcomes In California, Oregon, And Washington, Hans Daniel Stroo Mar 2014

Explaining Ballot Initiative Contest Outcomes In California, Oregon, And Washington, Hans Daniel Stroo

Dissertations and Theses

What explains the outcomes of ballot initiative contests? What factors determine the passage or rejection of an initiative? This paper describes and evaluates three approaches to explaining ballot initiative contest outcomes. The first approach involves using the expenditures of Yes and No campaigns as the causal factor in explaining why passage or defeat is the respective outcome of a given contest. The second explanatory approach emphasizes the logic of collective action problems. The third approach incorporates the larger constellation of policymaking institutions in which each ballot initiative process exists. Specifically, in what ways is the process shaped by the larger …


The Perils Of Ignoring (Or Misunderstanding) Politics And Organizing, David Johns Jan 2014

The Perils Of Ignoring (Or Misunderstanding) Politics And Organizing, David Johns

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Conservation scientists and advocates were surprised by the U.S. Congress stripping away protection for wolves in the US northern Rocky Mountains. If they had paid attention to earlier political lessons in which court victories had been undermined by determined political organizing they would not have been surprised and could have adopted strategies that would have given them much more leverage with elected officials. Instead conservationists were out-organized and elected officials normally supportive of the U.S. Endangered Species Act responded to anti-wolf groups because they brought more pressure to bear than conservationists. Although political lessons are specific to the system in …