Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts: Political Amateurs in the United States Congress
Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts: Political Amateurs in the United States Congress
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演员、运动员和宇航员：美国国会的政治业余爱好者
DOI：
10.2307/1963881
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发表时间：
1991
影响因子：
6.8
通讯作者：
David T. Canon
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
David T. Canon
美国国会通常被认为是一个充满职业政治家的机构，他们在较低级别的政治职位上积累了丰富的经验。事实上，自1930年以来，政治外行大约占众议院的四分之一。业余人士缺乏经验对他们的政治生涯、在国会中的角色以及对政治制度的影响的影响从未被详细分析过。大卫·t·卡农的《演员、运动员和宇航员》以非专业人士也能理解的清晰风格写成，是对选举和国会中的政治业余爱好者的权威研究。佳能研究了促使业余人士竞选公职的政治条件，他们为什么会赢或输，以及当选的业余人士的行为是否与经验丰富的同行不同。他的研究挑战了先前的工作，即假设稳定的职业结构和越来越有野心的候选人，他的研究表明，业余爱好者在政治机会高的时期当选不成比例，比如20世纪30年代的民主党和80年代的共和党。佳能的详细研究结果呼吁我们对目前盛行的抱负理论的理解进行重大修订，并解除对政治业余人士的单一解释。他独特的业余主义类型区分了政策导向、“无望”或雄心勃勃的业余爱好者。后者与他们的职业同行相似；“没有希望的”业余人士被强烈的党派动机席卷到办公室，每种类型的决策风格各不相同，影响了他们成功的程度，但每种业余人士都通过击败根深蒂固的现任者提供了必要的选举平衡，这些在任者很少受到更有经验的政治家的挑战。
The U.S. Congress is typically seen as an institution filled with career politicians who have been seasoned by experience in lower levels of political office. In fact, political amateurs have comprised roughly one quarter of the House of Representatives since 1930. The effect of amateurs' inexperience on their political careers, roles in Congress, and impact on the political system has never been analyzed in detail. Written in a lucid style accessible to the nonspecialist, David T. Canon's Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts is a definitive study of political amateurs in elections and in Congress. Canon examines the political conditions that prompt amateurs to run for office, why they win or lose, and whether elected amateurs behave differently from their experienced counterparts. Challenging previous work which presumed stable career structures and progressively ambitious candidates, his study reveals that amateurs are disproportionately elected in periods of high political opportunity, such as the 1930s for Democrats and 1980s for Republicans. Canon's detailed findings call for significant revision of our prevailing understanding of ambition theory and disarm monolithic interpretations of political amateurs. His unique typology of amateurism differentiates among policy-oriented, "hopeless," or ambitious amateurs. The latter resemble their professional counterparts; "hopeless" amateurs are swept into office by strong partisan motivations and decision-making styles of each type vary, affecting their degree of success, but each type of amateur provides a necessary electoral balance by defeating entrenched incumbents rarely challenged by more experienced politicians.