Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- THE AMERICAN CONGRESS READER
- PART I THE AMERICAN CONGRESS: MODERN TRENDS
- PART II REPRESENTATION AND LAWMAKING IN CONGRESS: THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
- PART III CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS AND POLICY ALIGNMENTS
- PART IV MEMBERS, GOALS, RESOURCES, AND STRATEGIES
- PART V PARTIES AND LEADERS
- PART VI THE STANDING COMMITTEES
- PART VII THE RULES OF THE LEGISLATIVE GAME
- PART VIII THE FLOOR AND VOTING
- 25 Greasing the Wheels
- 26 Models of Legislative Voting
- 27 Pivotal Politics
- PART IX CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT
- PART X CONGRESS AND THE COURTS
- PART XI CONGRESS, LOBBYISTS, AND INTEREST GROUPS
- PART XII CONGRESS AND BUDGET POLITICS
- PART XIII FURTHER READINGS ON CONGRESSIONAL POLITICS
27 - Pivotal Politics
A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- THE AMERICAN CONGRESS READER
- PART I THE AMERICAN CONGRESS: MODERN TRENDS
- PART II REPRESENTATION AND LAWMAKING IN CONGRESS: THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
- PART III CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS AND POLICY ALIGNMENTS
- PART IV MEMBERS, GOALS, RESOURCES, AND STRATEGIES
- PART V PARTIES AND LEADERS
- PART VI THE STANDING COMMITTEES
- PART VII THE RULES OF THE LEGISLATIVE GAME
- PART VIII THE FLOOR AND VOTING
- 25 Greasing the Wheels
- 26 Models of Legislative Voting
- 27 Pivotal Politics
- PART IX CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT
- PART X CONGRESS AND THE COURTS
- PART XI CONGRESS, LOBBYISTS, AND INTEREST GROUPS
- PART XII CONGRESS AND BUDGET POLITICS
- PART XIII FURTHER READINGS ON CONGRESSIONAL POLITICS
Summary
Krehbiel develops a simple, spatial model of lawmaking in the U.S. Congress. He argues that focusing on the policy positions of “pivotal” voters such as the person crucial to ending a filibuster or overriding a presidential veto, instead of divided government, is the proper way to study the causes and consequences of legislative gridlock.
Who is pivotal in U.S. lawmaking? This is a difficult question insofar as “the United States has the most intricate lawmaking system in the world.” However, based on the hope that even a simple theoretical answer to a difficult question is better than no answer at all, this chapter introduces a theory of pivotal politics that is unabashedly elementary by contemporary modeling standards. The theory not only answers the question of who is pivotal in U.S. lawmaking but also generates a sizable set of empirical implications. After a brief overview of the general properties of good theories – assumptions, results, and interpretations – this chapter turns to their specific manifestations in the pivotal politics theory.
ASSUMPTIONS
Assumptions of the theory cover preferences, players, policies, procedures, and behavior. These can be addressed in varying degrees of mathematical precision and generality. Here I opt for a relatively informal and example-based exposition.
Policy Space
Collective choice occurs via voting over proposals or policies that can be arranged on a line. That is, the policy space is unidimensional.
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- Chapter
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- The American Congress Reader , pp. 307 - 316Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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