Explores the activities of members of Congress in their constituencies and in Washington

Understanding the relationship between U.S. Congressional representatives and their constituents is complicated. Some conclude representative behavior is determined by the representative's perception of the district, or home style (Fenno, 1978) while others believe it is central to their role orientations and stylistic patterns (Gross, 1978; Wahlke et al., 1962). To better understand member behavior exhibited in the representative-constituent relationship, many have focused on examining roll-call voting behavior, electoral outcomes, seniority, and member home style: allocation of resources, presentation of self, and explanation of Washington activity to the district (Fenno, 1978). This dissertation advances previous research on the representative-constituent relationship by studying the concept of home style—online. I address online home style questions: 1) Are Congressional websites a rational use of resources? 2) Are MC online and offline presentation of self patterns similar? 3) Do MCs use YouTube videos to explain Washington activity? I argue that representative offline home style patterns are more likely to influence how often representatives use online technology to communicate to constituencies of district and Washington performance. By examining members in the 113th U.S. House of Representatives for online home style, I find that explanation of Washington activity rather than presentation of self more likely to affect representative behavior outcomes. Therefore, while a member's overall home style is critical to the representative-constituent relationship, only explanation of Washington activity has a significant impact on online representative communication priorities.

A ready-reference encyclopedia, now in its Third Edition, detailing the workings and personalities of the U.S. Congress, written in language that will be comprehensible to any level of researcher. 250 entries provide in-depth coverage of how Congress functions. Entries range from short definitions to a series of core essays exploring the legislative process, the seniority system, the committee system, the budget process, and other broad areas.

Ideal for scholars, graduate, and undergraduate students of democratic theory and political behavior, while engaging for policy makers and concerned citizens. Politics with the People develops and tests a new model of politics - 'directly representative democracy' - connecting citizens and officials to improve representative government.

For most bills in American legislatures, the issue of turf—or which committee has jurisdiction over a bill—can make all the difference. Turf governs the flow and fate of all legislation. In this innovative study, David C. King explains how jurisdictional areas for committees are created and changed in Congress. Political scientists have long maintained that jurisdictions are relatively static, changing only at times of dramatic reforms. Not so, says King. Combining quantitative evidence with interviews and case studies, he shows how on-going turf wars make jurisdictions fluid. According to King, jurisdictional change stems both from legislators seeking electoral advantage and from nonpartisan House parliamentarians referring ambiguous bills to committees with the expertise to handle the issues. King brilliantly dissects the politics of turf grabbing and at the same time shows how parliamentarians have become institutional guardians of the legislative process. Original and insightful, Turf Wars will be valuable to those interested in congressional studies and American politics more generally.

A comparison of rational choice models of Congress

This book unveils a potent new approach to one of the oldest debates in political economy--that over whether class conflict or group competition is more prevalent in politics. It goes further than any study to date by outlining the conditions under which one type of political conflict is more likely than the other. Michael Hiscox focuses on a critical issue affecting support for and opposition to free trade--factor mobility, or the ability of those who own a factor of production (land, labor, or capital) to move it from one industry to another. He argues that the types of political coalitions that form in trade politics depend largely on the extent to which factors are mobile between industries. Class coalitions are more likely where factor mobility is high, Hiscox demonstrates, whereas narrow, industry-based coalitions predominate where it is low. The book also breaks new ground by backing up the theory it advances with systematic evidence from the history of trade politics in six nations over the last two centuries, using a combination of case studies and quantitative analysis. It makes fresh conclusions about the forces shaping trade policy outcomes--conclusions that yield surprising insights into the likely evolution of the global trading system and U.S. trade policy in particular. International Trade and Political Conflict is a major contribution to the scholarly literature while being accessible to anyone interested in understanding and predicting developments in trade policy.