Syllabus PLS 824: Research Seminar on Congress D. Rohde Spring 2004 324A S. Kedzie (355-7655) Mondays, 104 BH (3:00-5:50) rohde@msu.edu Required Readings The following books are required, and should be available in the appropriate book stores. All are paperback editions except Black and Black. Walter Oleszek: Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process, 6th ed. (CQ Press 2004) 1-56802-819-9 (paper) David Mayhew: Congress: The Electoral Connection (Yale University Press 1974) 0-300-01809-6 (paper) Morris Fiorina: Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment 2d ed. (Yale University Press 1989) 0-300-04640-5 (paper) Richard Hall: Participation in Congress. (Yale University Press 1996) 0-300-07651-7 (paper) David Rohde: Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House (University of Chicago Press 1991) 0-226-72407-7 (paper) Gary Cox & Mathew McCubbins: Legislative Leviathan (University of California Press 1993) 0-520-07220-0 (paper) Barbara Sinclair: The Transformation of the U.S. Senate (Johns Hopkins University Press 1989) 0801841100 (paper) Keith Krehbiel, Pivotal Politics (University of Chicago Press 1998) 0-226-45272-7 (paper) Sarah A. Binder: Stalemate (Brookings 2003) 0-8157-0911-0 (paper) Earl Black and Merle Black: The Rise of Southern Republicans (Harvard 2002) 0-674- 00728-X Gary Cox and Jonathan Katz: Elbridge Gerry s Salamander (Cambridge 2002) 0-521- 00154-4 (paper) There is no course pack. Most articles are available on J-Stor. Most or all unpublished papers will be available on the course web site (www.msu.edu/~rohde/pls824.htm). Items marked with an asterisk will be made available. Evaluation You will be required to complete a number of written assignments. First, there will be two critical evaluations of the assigned readings, each for one of the weeks of the course. I would expect this to run something like 6-8 double-spaced pages. You are encouraged to draw on and discuss additional, unassigned literature related to the subject matter for
2 that week. You will also be expected to lead class discussion of the readings that week; the paper will be due the day the readings are discussed, with copies for all seminar members. You may sign up for the weeks you prefer, in most cases one before Spring break and one after (first come, first served, one student per week until all are taken, then we will double up), starting after the first class meeting. I will seek volunteers for the first few weeks during the first class. The other written assignment will be a research proposal, due by noon, April 30. The papers will be judged by the criteria I would apply to a paper delivered at a professional conference, or one submitted to a journal [as if, of course, the research had actually been conducted]. In addition, the proposal will be judged by its realism (i.e., whether it could actually be completed within the next year). A significant part of your grade will depend on your participation in class. On some days you will be responsible for leading the discussion, on most you will not. In either case you will be expected to participate. Let me be clearer. You are expected to read the assigned material, to analyze it seriously, and to demonstrate that you have read and mastered that material by sharing your views and evaluations with the class. (You will want both to understand what the author is trying to say and do, and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the author's theory, methodology, and substantive conclusions.) If you do not do this, you will not be able to receive a top grade in the class. If your writing assignments are excellent and you do not participate extensively, you will not receive a final grade higher than a 3.5; if your writing assignments are very good and you do not participate extensively, you will not receive a final grade higher than a 3.0; and so on. We will not cover the "nut and bolts" of congressional organization in this class. I will assume a certain amount of background, equivalent to a good undergraduate course on Congress. One book [Walter Oleszek: Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process, 6th ed. (CQ Press 2004)] is intended to serve as a supplement to your knowledge and a reference on congressional procedures. Browse through it during the first month of class, and then refer back to it as needed. Assignments (To be completed before the class meeting) *= copies to be made available Jan. 12 Introduction and Theoretical Overviews David Mayhew: Congress: The Electoral Connection (Yale University Press 1974) Jan. 19 NO CLASS: MLK Holiday Jan. 26 Theoretical Overviews (Continued) Fiorina, Morris P. Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment 2d ed. (Yale University Press 1989)
3 *Weingast, Barry R., and William J. Marshall. 1988. "The Industrial Organization of Congress; or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, Are Not Organized as Markets." Journal of Political Economy 96 (No. 1): 132-163. Shepsle, Kenneth A., and Barry R. Weingast. 1994. "Positive Theories of Congressional Institutions." Legislative Studies Quarterly 19: 149-179. *Fiorina, Morris P. 2001. "Keystone Reconsidered." In Congress Reconsidered 7th ed., eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press: 141-162. Kenneth Shepsle and Barry R. Weingast: Positive Theories of Congressional Institutions Shepsle, Kenneth A. 1989. "The Changing Textbook Congress." In Can the Government Govern? ed. John Chubb and Paul Peterson. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution: 238-66. Douglas Arnold: The Logic of Congressional Action Keith Krehbiel: Information and Legislative Organization. Feb. 2 Elections: Voter Choice and Public Opinion Mann, Thomas E. and Raymond E. Wolfinger. 1980. "Candidates and Parties in Congressional Elections." American Political Science Review 74: 617-32. *Hibbing, John R. and James T. Smith. 2001. What the American Public Wants Congress to Be. In Congress Reconsidered 7th ed., eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press: 45-65. *Jacobson, Gary C. 1999. "Party Polarization in National Politics: The Electoral Connection." In Jon R. Bond and Richard Fleisher (eds.), Polarized Politics. Washington D.C: CQ Press: 9-30. Fiorina, Morris P. 1999. "Whatever Happened to the Median Voter." (manuscript) *Jones, David R. and Monika L. McDermott. 2004. The Responsible Party Government Model in House and Senate Elections. American Journal of Political Science 48: 1-12. Layman, Geoffrey C. and Thomas M. Carsey. 2002. Party Polarization and Conflict Extension in the American Electorate. American Journal of Political Science 46: 786-802. John Hibbing and Beth Thiess-Morse: Congress as Public Enemy Bruce Cain, John Ferejohn, and Morris Fiorina: The Personal Vote
4 Feb. 9 Elections: Elite Behavior Rohde, David W. 1979. "Risk-Bearing and Progressive Ambition: The Case of Members of the United States House of Representatives," American Journal of Political Science 23 (February): 1-26. Lublin, David I. 1994. "Quality, Not Quantity: Strategic Politicians in U.S. Senate Elections, 1952-1990." Journal of Politics 56: 228-41. *Stone, Walter J. and L. Sandy Maisel. 2003. The Not So Simple Calculus of Winning: Potential U.S. House Candidates Nomination and General Election Prospects. Journal of Politics 65: 951-977. *Carmines, Edward G., and James A. Stimson. 1986. "The Politics and Policy of Race in Congress." In Congress and Policy Change. ed. Gerald C. Wright, Jr., Leroy N. Rieselbach, and Lawrence C. Dodd. New York: Agethon Press: 70-93. Franklin, Charles H. 1991. "Eschewing Obfuscation? Campaigns and the Perception of U.S. Senate Incumbents." American Political Science Review 85 (December): 1193-1214. Ansolabehere, Stephen D., James M. Snyder, and Charles Stewart III. 2001. "Candidate Positioning in U.S. House Elections." American Journal of Political Science 45: 136-159 Thomas Kazee (ed.): Who Runs for Congress? John Hibbing: Congressional Careers Linda Fowler: Candidates, Congress, and the American Democracy Kim Kahn and Patrick Kenney: The Spectacle of U.S. Senate Elections Richard Fenno: Senators on the Campaign Trail Carmines and Stimson: Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Feb. 16 Elections: Districting and Money Cox, Gary, and Jonathan Katz. Elbridge Gerry s Salamander (Cambridge 2002) Hirsch, Sam. 2003. The United States of Unrepresentatives: What Went Wrong in the Latest Round of Redistricting. Election Law Journal 2: 179-216 (copy on web site) *Heatherington, Marc J., Bruce Larson, and Suzanne Globetti. 2003. The Redistricting Cycle and Strategic Candidate Decisions in U.S. House Races. Journal of Politics 65:1221-1234.
5 Jacobson, Gary C. 1999. "Impeachment Politics in the 1998 Congressional Elections." Political Science Quarterly (Spring): 31-51. Gerber, Alan. 1998. "Estimating the Effect of Campaign Spending on Senate Election Outcomes Using Instrumental Variables." American Political Science Review 92 (June): 401-411. Erikson, Robert S., and Thomas R. Palfrey. 1998. "Campaign Spending and Incumbency: An Alternative Simultaneous Equations Approach." Journal of Politics (May): 355-373. Goldstein, Ken, and Paul Freedman. 2000. "New Evidence for New Arguments: Money and Advertising in the 1996 Senate Elections." Journal of Politics 62 (November): 1087-1108 Feb. 23 Elections: Outcomes and Representation Black, Earl, and Merle Black: The Rise of Southern Republicans (Harvard 2002) Fenno, Richard. 1977. "U.S. House Members in Their Constituencies." American Political Science Review 71 (September): 883-916. Campbell, James E. 1991. The Presidential Surge and Midterm Decline in Congressional Elections, 1868-1988." Journal of Politics 53: 477-487. *Canes-Wrone, Brandace, David W. Brady, and John F. Cogan. 2002. Out of Step, Out of Office: Electoral Accountability and House Members Voting. American Political Science Review 96: 127-140. Theriault, Sean. The Case of the Vanishing Moderates: Party Polarization in the Modern Congress (Manuscript) Morris Fiorina: Representatives, Roll Calls, and Constituencies Gary Jacobson: The Electoral Origins of Divided Government James Campbell: The Presidential Pulse of Congressional Elections, 2d ed. Alan Abramowitz and Jeffrey Segal: Senate Elections Fenno: Home Style William Bianco: Trust: Representatives and Constituents. Snowiss, Leo M. 1966. "Congressional Recruitment and Representation." American Political Science Review 60: 627-639. Bishin, Benjamin G. 2000. "Constituency Influence in Congress: Does Subconstituency Matter?" Legislative Studies Quarterly 25 (August): 389-415
6 Hurley, Patricia A., and Brinck Kerr. 2000. "The Effects of Party Advantage on the Partisan Support of New House Members." Legislative Studies Quarterly 25 (February): 53-73. Mar. 1 Internal Organization: Structure, Rules and Procedures Polsby, Nelson W. 1968. "The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives." American Political Science Review 62: 144-168. Cooper, Joseph, and David W. Brady. 1981. "Institutional Context and Leadership Style: The House from Cannon to Rayburn." American Political Science Review 75: 411-25. *Evans, C. Lawrence. 1999. "Legislative Structure: Rules, Precedents, Jurisdictions." Legislative Studies Quarterly 24: 605-642. Binder, Sarah A. 1996. "The Partisan Basis of Procedural Choice: Allocating Parliamentary Rights in the House, 1789-1990." American Political Science Review 90 (March): 8-20 Schickler, Eric. 2000. "Institutional Change in the House of Representatives, 1867-1998: A Test of Partisan and Ideological Power Balance Models." American Political Science Review 94 (June): 269-288 *Sinclair, Barbara. 1995. "Change and Continuity in the Legislative Process: The U.S. House and Senate from the 1970s to the 1990s." A paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association Douglas Dion: Turning the Legislative Thumbscrew Sarah Binder: Minority Rights Majority Rule Barbara Sinclair: Unothodox Lawmaking Stanley Bach and Steven Smith: Managing Uncertainty Mar. 8 NO CLASS (Spring Break) Mar. 15 Internal Organization: Parties and Leaders 1 Rohde, David W. Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House (University of Chicago Press 1991) Krehbiel, Keith. 1993. "Where's the Party?" British Journal of Political Science 23:235-266. *Aldrich, John H. and David W. Rohde. 2001. "The Logic of Conditional Party Government: Revisiting the Electoral Connection." In Congress Reconsidered 7th
7 ed., eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press: 269-292. Aldrich, John H. and David W. Rohde. 1999. "The Consequences of Party Organizations in the House: Theory and Evidence on Conditional Party Government." A paper presented at the Conference on the Congress and the President in a Partisan Era, at Texas A&M University. *King, David C., and Richard J. Zeckhauser. 2003. "Congressional Vote Options." Legislative Studies Quarterly 28: 387-411. *Sinclair, Barbara. 2002. "Do Parties Matter?" In David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins (eds.). Party, Process, and Political Change in congress. Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press: 36-63. John Bader: Taking the Initiative Aldrich, John H. and David W. Rohde. "The Transition to Republican Rule in the House: Implications for Theories of Congressional Politics," Political Science Quarterly 112 (Winter, 1997-98): 541-567. Cox, Gary W., and Eric Magar. 1999. "How Much is Majority Status in the House Worth?" American Political Science Review 93 (June): 299-311. Mar. 22 Internal Organization: Parties and Leaders 2 Gary Cox & Mathew McCubbins: Legislative Leviathan (University of California Press 1993) Schickler, Eric and Andrew Rich. 1997. "Controlling the Floor: Parties as Procedural Coalitions in the House." American Journal of Political Science 41 (October): 1340-1375. Cox, Gary and Mathew McCubbins. 1997. "Toward a Theory of Legislative Rules Changes: Assessing Schickler and Rich's Evidence." American Journal of Political Science 41 (October): 1376-1386. Schickler, Eric and Andrew Rich. 1997. "Party Government in the House Reconsidered: A Response to Cox and McCubbins." American Journal of Political Science 41 (October): 1387-1394. *Cox, Gary and Mathew McCubbins. 1999. "Agenda Power in the United States House of Representatives, 1877-1986." In David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins (eds.). Party, Process, and Political Change in congress. Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press: 107-145.
8 Mar. 29 Internal Organization: Committees 1 Richard Hall: Participation in Congress. (Yale University Press 1996) Smith, Steven S. 1986. "The Central Concepts in Fenno's Committee Studies." Legislative Studies Quarterly 11 (February): 5-18. King, David C. 1994. "The Nature of Congressional Committee Jurisdictions." American Political Science Review 88: 48-62. Baumgartner, Frank R., Bryan D. Jones, and Michael C. MacLeod. 2000. "The Evolution of Legislative Jurisdictions." Journal of Politics 62 (May): 321-349 Richard Fenno: Congressmen in Committees Christopher Deering and Steven Smith, Committees in Congress, 3d ed. Randall Strahan: New Ways and Means Kenneth A. Shepsle: The Giant Jigsaw Puzzle. Hall, Richard, and Bernard Grofman. 1990. "The Committee Assignment Process and the Conditional Nature of Committee Bias." American Political Science Review 84: 1149-1166. Apr. 5 Internal Organization: Committees 2 Hall, Richard L., and Frank W. Wayman. 1990. "Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees." American Political Science Review 84: 797-820. Krutz, Glen. 2001. "Tactical Maneuvering on Omnibus Bills in Congress." American Journal of Political Science 45 (January): 210-233. *Hurwitz, Mark S., Roger J. Moiles, and David W. Rohde. 2001. " Distributive and Partisan Issues in Agriculture Policy in the 104th House." American Political Science Review 95 (December): 911-922. Lazarus, Jeff and Nathan W. Monroe. 2003. The Speaker s Discretion: Conference Committee Appointments from the 97th-106th Congress. A paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association. Van Houweling, Robert Parks. 2003. An Evolving End Game: The Partisan use of Conference Committees in the Postreform Congress. A paper presented at the History of Congress Conference, University of California at San Diego. C. Lawrence Evans. 1991. "Participation and Policy Making in Senate Committees." Political Science Quarterly 106 (Autumn): 479-498.
9 Lawrence Longley and Walter Oleszek: Bicameral Politics Aldrich, John H., and David W. Rohde. 2000. "The Republican Revolution and the House Appropriations Committee." Journal of Politics 62 (February): 1-33 Apr. 12 Senate Perspectives Barbara Sinclair: The Transformation of the U.S. Senate (Johns Hopkins University Press 1989) Binder, Sarah A., and Steven S. Smith. 1998. "Political Goals and Procedural Choice in the Senate." Journal of Politics (May): 398-416. Schiller, Wendy J. 1995. "Senators as Political Entrepreneurs: Using Bill Sponsorship to Shape Legislative Agendas." American Journal of Political Science 39: 186-203. *Barbara Sinclair. 2001. The New World of U.S. Senators. In Congress Reconsidered 7th ed., eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press: 1-19. Frances Lee and Bruce Oppenheimer: Sizing Up the Senate Wendy Schiller: Partners & Rivals Richard Fenno: The Senate: A Bicameral Perspective Crook, Sarah Brandes, and John R. Hibbing. 1997. "A Not-so-distant Mirror: the 17th Amendment and Congressional Change." American Political Science Review 91 (December): 845-853. Shepsle, Kenneth A., and Barry R. Weingast. 1987. "The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power." American Political Science Review 81: 85-104. Krehbiel, Keith/ Shepsle, Kenneth A., and Barry R. Weingast. 1987. "Why Are Congressional Committees Powerful?" American Political Science Review 81: 929-945. Richard Fenno: The United States Senate: A Bicameral Perspective Sarah Binder and Steven Smith: Politics or Principle? C. Lawrence Evans: Leadership in Committee Apr. 19 Historical Perspectives Poole, Keith T. and Howard Rosenthal. 1991 "Patterns of Congressional Voting." American Journal of Political Science 35: 228-78.
10 Jenkins, Jeffrey A. 1999. "Examining the Bonding Effects of Party: A Comparative Analysis of Roll-Call Voting in the U.S. and Confederate Houses." American Journal of Political Science 43 (October): 1144-1165. Rybicki, Elizabeth. 2003. Unresolved Differences: Bicameral Negotiations in Congress, 1877-2002. A paper presented at the History of Congress Conference, University of California at San Diego. Engstrom, Eric and Sam Kernell. 2003. The Effects of Presidential Elections on Party Control of the Senate under Indirect and Direct Elections. A paper presented at the History of Congress Conference, University of California at San Diego. Carson, Jamie, and Eric Engstrom. 2004. The Electoral Connection in the Early U.S.: The Congressional Elections of 1826-27. A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association. Wolfensberger, Don. 2003. The Motion to Recommit in the House: The Creation, Evisceration, and Restoration of a Minority Right. A paper presented at the History of Congress Conference, University of California at San Diego. April 26 Congress and the President Keith Krehbiel, Pivotal Politics (University of Chicago Press 1991) Binder, Sarah A. 2003. Stalemate. Brookings. *Howell, William, Scott Adler, Charles Cameron, and Charles Rieman. 2000. "Divided Government and the Legislative Productivity of Congress." Legislative Studies Quarterly 25 (May): 285-312. Coleman, John J. 1999. "Unified Government, Divided Government, and Party Responsiveness." American Political Science Review 93 (December): 821-835. David Mayhew: Divided We Govern Covington, Cary R,. J. Mark Wrightson, and Rhonda Kinney. 1995. "A 'Presidency-Augmented' Model of Presidential Success on House Roll-Call Votes." American Journal of Political Science 39 (November): 1001-1024. Edwards, George C. III, Andrew Barrett, and Jeffrey Peake. 1997. "The Legislative Impact of Divided Government." American Journal of Political Science 41 (April): 545-563. David Brady and Craig Volden: Revolving Gridlock George Edwards: At the Margins Mark Peterson: Legislating Together Jon Bond and Richard Fleischer: The President in the Legislative Arena