The Effects of Term Limits for State Legislators

9422375 Niemi早在围绕通过《宪法》的辩论中就讨论了任期限制如何影响立法代表问题，但这个问题后来基本上被搁置了200年。然而，从1990年的加利福尼亚州开始，大约有16个州为其州立法或国会代表制定了任期限制，更多的州可能会在不久的将来制定这样的限制。由于最近的时机，大多数关于这个主题的文章都是说明性的，但论点激烈，主张宏大。本项目是首次大规模研究任期限制的实际效果，调查人员将重点放在州立法层面。该项目的核心内容包括：a)截至1995年春季对所有州议员进行的邮寄调查；b)1995年对四个州的立法者和主要政治观察家的个人访谈，一个有任期限制的高度专业化的立法机构，另一个有任期限制的业余立法机构，以及每种类型的一个没有任期限制的立法机构。此外，调查人员将利用州立法选举的数据以及其他已公布的关于立法者和立法机构的数据。这个项目应该会大大加强我们对这一有趣而重要的主题的理解。***

9422375 Niemi How term limits affect legislative representation was addressed as early as the debate surrounding the adoption of the Constitution, but the matter was then largely set aside for 200 years. Beginning with California in 1990, however, some sixteen states have enacted term limits for their state legislative or congressional representatives, and additional states are likely to enact such limits in the near future. Owing to this recent timing, most writings about the topic are prescriptive, but the arguments are intense and the claims are grandiose. This project is the first large-scale study of the actual effects of term limits, The investigators will focus on the state legislative level. The heart of the project consists of: a) a mail survey of all state legislators as of spring 1995; b) personal interviews during 1995 with legislators and key political observers in four states, one highly professionalized legislature with term limits, one more amateur legislature with term litis, and one of each type without term limits. In addition, the investigators will make use of data on state legislative elections as well as other published data about legislators and the legislatures. This project should substantially enhance our understanding of this interesting and important topic. ***