Constituency Democracy in the Progressive Era: Referenda and House Roll Call Votes

进步时代的选区民主：公民投票和众议院点名投票

• 批准号: 8921529
• 负责人: Eileen McDonagh
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Radcliffe College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1990
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1990-03-01 至 1992-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8921529&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Constituency; Democracy; Progressive; Era; Referenda

In this investigation the researcher assesses how the modern, American democratic state is founded at the beginning of the twentieth century on the basis of legislative policies initiated at the state and federal levels of government. Grass-root referenda votes are collected and used as a measure of constituency issue positions and are examined in relation to subsequent roll call voting by House members on the same or similar issues. The analysis of a wide range of issues, including welfare, government management, and civil rights policies, illustrates that House members' responses to the cues of their constituents, mediated by partisan competition and conflict, do have the effect of transferring progressive social policies first proposed and implemented at the state-level to that of the federal-level. While many view the New Deal as the beginning of the modern era, this research reveals how the rich multitude of state-level legislation considered in the earlier part of this century provides crucial precedents for modern, federal policy programs. Not only do we gain a better understanding of how Congress operates in these decades, but the centrality of legislative and representative processes for the establishment of progressive policies is evident, balancing the more usual attention directed to the role of courts and parties in this time period. In addition to integrating a relatively neglected time period, the Progressive Era, into the study of Congress and development of our modern state, this project also introduces a new method for studying policy congruence in general between the state and federal levels by means of grass.root referenda votes. As a result of this research, the applicability of using referenda votes in studies of contemporary congresses will be apparent, thereby opening up new perspectives for investigating policy connections between state and federal levels.

在这项调查中，研究者评估了现代美国民主国家是如何在世纪初建立在州和联邦各级政府立法政策的基础上的。收集基层公民投票的选票，并将其作为衡量选区问题立场的一个尺度，并结合众议院议员随后就相同或类似问题进行的唱名表决加以审查。对包括福利、政府管理和民权政策在内的广泛问题的分析表明，众议院议员对选民暗示的反应，在党派竞争和冲突的调解下，确实具有将首先在州一级提出和实施的进步社会政策转移到联邦一级的效果。虽然许多人认为新政是现代时代的开始，但这项研究揭示了本世纪早期考虑的大量州一级立法是如何为现代联邦政策计划提供重要先例的。我们不仅更好地了解了国会在这几十年中的运作方式，而且立法和代表程序在制定进步政策方面的中心地位是显而易见的，平衡了在这一时期对法院和政党作用的更常见的关注。除了将一个相对被忽视的时期--进步时代--纳入国会和现代国家发展的研究之外，本项目还引入了一种新的方法，通过基层公民投票来研究州和联邦两级之间的政策一致性。作为这项研究的结果，在当代国会研究中使用公民投票的适用性将是显而易见的，从而为调查州和联邦级别之间的政策联系开辟了新的视角。