Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the U.S. House of Representatives

ISBN-13: 9780521619967 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 352 str.

Gary W. Cox; Mathew D. McCubbins

Opis

Scholars of the U.S. House disagree over the importance of political parties in organizing the legislative process. On the one hand, non-partisan theories stress how congressional organization serves members' non-partisan goals. On the other hand, partisan theories argue that the House is organized to serve the collective interests of the majority party. This book advances a partisan theory and presents a series of empirical tests of that theory's predictions (pitted against others). The evidence demonstrates that the majority party seizes agenda control at nearly every stage of the legislative process in order to prevent bills that the party dislikes from reaching the floor.

Recenzje

“Cox and McCubbins make a powerful case for viewing agenda control as a persistent and fundamental dimension of party influence in the modern U.S. Congress. Even readers who may not be persuaded that this mode of analysis captures the full range of contributions parties and leaders make to congressional politics will benefit from a close reading of this study.” – Randall Strahan, Emory University

Spis treści

1. Introduction; Part I. Why Party Government?: 2. Procedural Cartel theory; Part II. Negative Agenda Power: 3. Cartel agenda model vs. floor agenda model; 4. The primacy of Reed's rules in house organization; 5. Final passage votes; 6. The costs of agenda control; 7. The textbook congress and the committee on rules; 8. The bills reported from committee; 9. Which way does policy move?; Part III. The Consequences of Positive Agenda Power and Conditional Party Government: 10. Positive agenda power; 11. Conclusion.