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Polarized Policymaking: The Effect Of Ideological Division On Legislative Outcomes In The United States Congress, Aaron Tyler Mentzer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation examines the effect of political polarization on legislative productivity and policymaking in the United States Congress. As the ideological distance between Republicans and Democrats increases, both parties face pressure to obstruct the legislative process in order to defeat their opponent’s policy proposals. This leads to legislative gridlock and alters the means by which Congress can perform its legislative duties. This theory is not a new one, but this dissertation expands on existing literature in several ways. In Chapter 2 I ask: does polarization limit the types of policy that Congress is able to pass, and is Congress restricted …