Legislative Style / Tracy Sulkin, William Bernhard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bernhard, William, author.

Sulkin, Tracy, author.

Series:

Chicago studies in American politics.

Chicago Studies in American Politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Congress--Officials and employees.

United States.

Legislators--Professional relationships--United States.

Legislators.

Legislation--United States--Decision making.

Legislation.

Political planning--United States.

Political planning.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white).

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Once elected, members of Congress face difficult decisions about how to allocate their time and effort. On which issues should they focus? What is the right balance between working in one's district and on Capitol Hill? How much should they engage with the media to cultivate a national reputation? William Bernhard and Tracy Sulkin argue that these decisions and others define a "legislative style" that aligns with a legislator's ambitions, experiences, and personal inclinations, as well as any significant electoral and institutional constraints. Bernhard and Sulkin have developed a systematic approach for looking at legislative style through a variety of criteria, including the number of the bills passed, number of speeches given, amount of money raised, and the percentage of time a legislator voted in line with his or her party. Applying this to ten congresses, representing twenty years of congressional data, from 1989 to 2009, they reveal that legislators' activity falls within five predictable styles. These styles remain relatively consistent throughout legislators' time in office, though a legislator's style can change as career goals evolve, as well as with changes to individual or larger political interests, as in redistricting or a majority shift. Offering insight into a number of enduring questions in legislative politics, Legislative Style is a rich and nuanced account of legislators' activity on Capitol Hill.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter One. Legislative Style and Congressional Careers

Chapter Two. Measuring Legislative Style / Sewell, Daniel

Chapter Three. The Styles

Chapter Four. Explaining Freshman Styles

Chapter Five. Transitions in Style

Chapter Six. The Electoral Consequences of Legislative Style

Chapter Seven. Styles, Lawmaking, and Legislative Success

Chapter Eight. Career Advancement and Legislative Styles

Chapter Nine. Legislative Styles and Evaluations of Congress

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Chicago Studies in American Politics

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2018.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Okt 2019)

ISBN:

9780226510316

022651031X

OCLC:

1015676254