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
- 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
- 40 Introduction to the Spatial Theory of Legislating
- 41 The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power
40 - Introduction to the Spatial Theory of Legislating
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
- 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
- 40 Introduction to the Spatial Theory of Legislating
- 41 The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power
Summary
The editors include this appendix from their textbook, The American Congress, to provide an introduction to the spatial theory of legislative politics. Spatial theory views legislators' policy positions as locations in geometric space and exploits basic geometry to characterize expected policy outcomes. The technique is widely used by scholars of politics to study elections and bureaucratic, judicial, and legislative decision making.
Much of congressional politics has geometric characteristics. When we speak of most Democrats as liberals, most Republicans as conservatives, and some legislators as moderates, we have in mind an ideological or policy spectrum – a line or dimension – along which we can place legislators. In recent Congresses, the parties have been sharply divided, with very little overlap between the parties. Figure 40.1 illustrates this for the 109th Congress (2005–2006) for senators. Using a statistical technique, senators were scored on the basis of their overall voting record in the Congress. Democrats and Republicans were concentrated on opposite sides of the spectrum, creating one of the most polarized Senates in history.
Legislators' policy positions also can be represented in two or more dimensions, when appropriate. In Figure 40.2, senators' policy positions are identified in two dimensions for a debate on an immigration reform bill in 2006. Their locations are identified with the help of a statistical analysis of their votes on about three dozen amendments and other motions that were considered on the Senate floor.
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- Information
- The American Congress Reader , pp. 441 - 448Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008