Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Instittutional Variation, Balance of Power and Agenda Control: Evidence from the Argentine Subnational Legislatures

本研究调查了立法竞争的模式（即党派分裂和政府的多数/少数地位）如何可能影响管理立法程序的规则和做法。这些不同的立法竞争模式，研究者认为，应该对多数、多数和少数政党的议程设置特权产生影响，这些特权应该决定哪些法案动议在全体会议上得到考虑，并在州立法机构中获得最终批准。因此，该研究将展示多数、多数和少数政党的守门特权如何影响个别立法者的相对成功以及被批准的立法类型。检验这些假设的数据将从一个有希望但尚未开发的来源收集：阿根廷24个省的地方立法机构在25年期间（1984-2009）。该研究不仅有助于比较立法的文献，而且有助于了解联邦国家的地方立法成功。因此，本项目产生的数据将使其他学者能够检验更多的假设，以调查联邦制国家中政党的立法绩效和地方政府的立法特权。该项目的分析单位包括阿根廷各省的8个两院制立法机构和16个一院制立法机构（总共32个立法机构）。为了研究州立法机构内部规则与其政治构成之间的关系，研究人员将分析跨立法机构和不同时间的法案倡议的引入率和成功率。由于阿根廷各省已实施了大量选举改革，各省内部和跨省的体制变化将可以检验立法程序规则（或内部规则）的变化是否影响立法工作。研究人员期望该项目表明，地方立法机构内部党派环境的变化影响了多数政党对守门特权的选择和使用，例如，权力职位和委员会任务的分配。为了探讨多数党、多数派和少数党制定立法议程的能力，研究人员将根据政党类型、立法集团和年份（1983年至2009年）区分引入率和成功率。立法中党派构成的差异预计将提供多数党、多数派和多数派政党使用把关机构的关键信息。预定的实地调查将收集以下方面的数据：各省立法机构的议事规则（内部规则）、机构改革、立法机构组成、委员会分配、权力职位分配、1983年至2009年期间所有24个省提交的法案（按政党、集团、年份）、向议会报告的法案（按政党、集团、年份）和批准的法案（按政党、集团、年份）的完整样本。研究人员还将与前省级立法者和地方政党领导人、普通成员和政治观察员进行访谈，以调查哪些其他非正式规则在立法过程中发挥关键作用。本项目产生的研究结果将通过进一步了解联邦政策中的地方立法政治，为政治学学科做出贡献。此外，该项目将理清立法成功的制度和环境决定因素，这对于理解地方立法机构的组织至关重要。为这个项目收集的数据预期将对比较立法研究作出贡献。这种研究在评估立法机构的工作和提高新兴民主国家的透明度和问责制方面也应证明是有价值的。

This research investigates how patterns of legislative competition (i.e., partisan fragmentation and the majority/minority status of the government) are likely to affect the rules and practices that govern the legislative process. These different patterns of legislative competition, the investigator argues, should have an impact on the agenda-setting prerogatives of majority, plurality, and minority parties, which should determine which bill initiatives are given consideration by the plenary floor and win final approval in a state legislature. Thus, the research will show how the gatekeeping prerogatives of majority, plurality, and minority parties affect the relative success of individual legislators and the type of legislation being approved. The data to test these hypotheses will be collected from a promising yet unexplored source: the local legislatures of Argentina's 24 provinces over a twenty-five year period, 1984-2009. The research will not only contribute to the literature on comparative legislatures but also to the knowledge of subnational legislative success in federal countries. Hence, the data generated in this project will enable other scholars to test additional hypotheses, to investigate the legislative performance of political parties and the legislative prerogatives of subnational governments in a federal country. The units of analysis of this project include 8 bicameral and 16 unicameral legislatures in the Argentine provinces (32 legislative bodies in total). In order to investigate the relationship between the internal rules of the state legislatures and their political composition, the researcher will analyze the rate of introduction and the rate of success of bill initiatives across legislatures and over time. Because a significant number of electoral reforms have been implemented in the Argentine provinces, institutional variation within and across provinces will allow for a test of whether changes in legislative rules of procedure (or internal rules) affect legislative performance. The researcher expects the project to show that changes in the partisan environment within local legislatures shape the selection and use of gatekeeping prerogatives by majority parties, e.g., distribution of authority posts and committee assignments. To explore the ability of the majority, plurality, and minority parties to set the legislative agenda, the researcher will distinguish rates of introduction and success by type of party, legislative bloc, and year (1983 to 2009). Variation in the partisan make-up of the legislation reaching the floor is expected to provide critical information on the use of gatekeeping institutions by majority, plurality, and majority parties.The scheduled fieldwork will allow for the collection of data on the provincial legislatures' rules of procedure (internal rules), institutional reforms, legislative composition, committee assignments, distribution of authority posts, the full sample of bills submitted (by party, bloc, year), bills reported to the floor (by party, bloc, year) and bills approved (by party, bloc, year) for all 24 provinces for the period 1983 to 2009. The researcher will also conduct interviews with former provincial legislators and local party leaders, rank-and-file members, and political observers in order to investigate which other informal rules play a key role in the legislative process. The findings generated in this project will contribute to the political science discipline by furthering understanding of subnational legislative politics in federal polities. Moreover, this project will disentangle institutional and contextual determinants of legislative success, which are critical to understand the organization of local legislatures. The data collected for this project are expected to make a contribution to comparative legislative studies. Such research should also prove valuable in efforts to assess the performance of legislative bodies and improve the levels of transparency and accountability in emerging democracies.