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Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Lie-Brary Of Congress: Misinformation’S Grip On The American Legislative Process, Caleb Bitting
The Lie-Brary Of Congress: Misinformation’S Grip On The American Legislative Process, Caleb Bitting
Honors Theses
This thesis investigates the influence of misinformation on the policy-making pro- cess by examining its temporal relationship with congressional speech on the floor of Congress. Through the application of Granger causality tests, I aim to determine the extent to which misinformation permeates political discourse and affects representatives from both political parties. My findings reveal that misinformation drives congressional speech on certain issues, and it appears to have an asymmetrical impact on Republicans and Democrats. While not set up to answer the question about a false dichotomy, my thesis hints that Republicans spread significantly more systems-based misinformation than their Democratic counterparts.
The Legislative Branch Revolves Around The White House: A Copernican Understanding Of The Evolving Relationship Between The President And Congress, Lukas K. Alexander
The Legislative Branch Revolves Around The White House: A Copernican Understanding Of The Evolving Relationship Between The President And Congress, Lukas K. Alexander
Honors Theses
Executive-centered partisanship is a new scholarly idea that focuses on the growing centrality of the president in party and governmental affairs. Scholars have looked at the president’s growing electoral, administrative, and organizational responsibilities to support the theory. While the evidence is compelling, there is a key aspect of our Federal government that is omitted in their theory - the president’s role in Congress. In this thesis, I look at the effect that the president has on legislative voting behavior between the 107th and 116th Congresses. To analyze the data, I examine the effect of the president on Senator voting behavior …
The Power Of One: Majority Leadership Power In The United States Senate, Andrew Taylor Ordentlich
The Power Of One: Majority Leadership Power In The United States Senate, Andrew Taylor Ordentlich
Honors Theses
The United States Senate has long been heralded as an institution known for its strong reliance upon procedural rules and the leadership that is able to use those rules to their advantage. Recent leaders including Senators Reid, McConnell, and Schumer have attempted to reform the rules of the Senate to its advantage. But why are we seeing this influx in reform now? This thesis utilizes the theory of Conditional Party Government (CPG) to explain the prevalence and lack of reform between 1900 and today. Using roll-call vote data and primary sources such as historical newspapers and the Congressional Record, this …
Ground To A Halt: A Mixed Methods Approach To Understanding U.S. Government Shutdowns, Ian R. Baum
Ground To A Halt: A Mixed Methods Approach To Understanding U.S. Government Shutdowns, Ian R. Baum
Honors Theses
Government shutdowns are a relatively frequent, yet understudied, phenomenon in American politics. To better understand these shutdowns, I present them as competitions between parties in two areas: First, the policy space, in which each party tries to end a shutdown with a policy that coincides with that party’s ideology and; second, the public opinion space, in which each party attempts to win support from the public. I use both qualitative (case studies), and quantitative (formal and statistical models) methods to evaluate shutdowns using this lens. Through my case studies, I found that parties which propose shutdown-ending policies that are close …
Representational Style And Congressional Elections: New York's 19th District In The 115th Congress, Margaret Mccormick
Representational Style And Congressional Elections: New York's 19th District In The 115th Congress, Margaret Mccormick
Honors Theses
The disconnect between members of Congress and the American public is no secret. Of the three branches of government, the legislative branch is intended to be the most representative of the people. However, it consistently faces the lowest approval ratings among the American public. Although the public largely disapproves of Congress as a legislative body, most Americans support their own representative. This phenomenon is reflected in high reelection rates for congressional incumbents. My thesis examines the relationship between congressional representation and elections through an evaluation of the representational style of Congressman John Faso. Faso, who represented New York’s 19th District …
Institutional Ambition And The Decline Of Congress, Ryan A. Case
Institutional Ambition And The Decline Of Congress, Ryan A. Case
Honors Theses
According to James Madison's theory of separated powers, ambition among members of each branch of government should prevent one branch from usurping the powers of another. However, this is hard to reconcile with the modern trend of congressional decline and executive aggrandizement. This paper takes a historical and developmental approach to argue that the informal changes to the American Constitution that took place throughout the 20th century combined with the modern trends of polarization and weak citizenship have left Congress weak and Madison's theory ineffective.
Race Representatives: Why Black Members Of Congress Matter, Shenika Mcdonald
Race Representatives: Why Black Members Of Congress Matter, Shenika Mcdonald
Honors Theses
My research project consisted of examining 200 bills sponsored by six African American members of Congress during the Ninety-third Congress (1973-1975). These six members of Congress represented Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; or New York, New York- three metropolitan cities with significant African American populations. This research emphasizes the importance of Black members of Congress to African Americans nationwide by highlighting the Congressional Black Caucus' formation and mission, examining the bills' key terms and public policy issues for racial implications, and consulting a variety of secondary source material that underscores the need for descriptive representation in the Black community. The primary …
Should She Run? The Decision For Female Congressíenal Candidates, Laura . J. Maloney
Should She Run? The Decision For Female Congressíenal Candidates, Laura . J. Maloney
Honors Theses
This study, “Should She Run? The decision for female congressional candidates,” explores Why Women decide to or not to run for Congress. lt focuses on the influence of state political Culture with a case study on the emergence of female candidates in the primaries for U.S. House of Representative races New England districts from 2002-2010. After running a series of general linear models, the study Ends that certain aspects of a state’s political culture do impact female candidate emergence in New England. Looking forward, it suggests that the key to shrinking the gender gap in the U.S. Congress is to …
The Impact Of Public Approval Of Congress On Midterm Congressional Election Outcomes, Jordan L. Goldman
The Impact Of Public Approval Of Congress On Midterm Congressional Election Outcomes, Jordan L. Goldman
Honors Theses
Over the past half-century, the United States Congress has become less revered by the American people. The Constitution names Congress as the first branch of government. The framers instituted Congress in Article One of the Constitution to symbolize the importance of the rule of law of the people. Its members were to be chosen members of the public, rather than royalty or nobility, to give the branch a sense of democratic legitimacy. However, during the past fifty years, public opinion of the first branch of government has waned. The reasons for this diminished respect are complex and numerous. In general …
The Blue Dog Coalition: Impact Of A Single-Issue Caucus From The 104th To The 110th Congress, Andrew James Clarke
The Blue Dog Coalition: Impact Of A Single-Issue Caucus From The 104th To The 110th Congress, Andrew James Clarke
Honors Theses
The Blue Dog Coalition is an informal organization of legislators within the House of Representatives that strives to influence policy on fiscal responsibility, attract the attention of the electorate, They are a group that elicits wide range of reactions covering the length of the political spectrum, but despite this, their claims of special defense of fiscal conservatism within the Democratic Party have gone relatively undocumented by the academic community.This project has integrated a party literature with a caucus literature, in the attempt of building a novel framework for research. Work on polarization, the significance of parties, the purpose and history …