Representation in State Legislatures
In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 93-119
ISSN: 1552-3349
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In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 16, Heft 1, S. 93-119
ISSN: 1552-3349
Modern Time – the period from 1500 to 1800 – began by adding to political thought the notion of sovereignty and ended by enriching it with what is nowadays understood as political representation. These two notions have traditionally been seen as the two pillars supporting both modern democracy and our conviction that popular sovereignty is what makes our contemporary democracies into the best political system ever conceived. However, the big problem is that sovereignty and political representation are hard to reconcile with each other: the relationship between the two of them is much like that between the two partners in a marriage permanently on the verge of divorce. This essay tries to explain why this is so and why Rousseau was basically right when intimating as much already in his Du Contrat Social. It does so by considering the relevant aspects in the history of political thought from the Middle Ages down to the so-called doctrinaire liberals of the beginning of the 19th century. Doing so compels us to recognize a basic inconsistency at the very heart of our modern democracies and its nasty consequences for the position of the people's representatives.
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In: Journal of theoretical politics, Band 15, Heft 1, S. 33-60
ISSN: 0951-6298
In: Electoral studies: an international journal, Band 21, Heft 3, S. 383-402
ISSN: 0261-3794
In: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought
In: Schriftenreihe der Internationalen Frauenuniversität "Technik und Kultur" 6
In: Journal of literary and cultural disability studies, Band 15, Heft 2, S. 125-132
ISSN: 1757-6466
In: The year's work in critical and cultural theory: YWCCT, Band 25, Heft 1, S. 19-42
ISSN: 1471-681X
In: Working with older people: community care policy & practice, Band 19, Heft 1
ISSN: 2042-8790
In: Synthese: an international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science, Band 191, Heft 15, S. 3639-3648
ISSN: 1573-0964
Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars' ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.
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In: American political science review, Band 108, Heft 3, S. 605-641
ISSN: 1537-5943
Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars' ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.
Municipal governments play a vital role in American democracy, as well as in governments around the world. Despite this, little is known about the degree to which cities are responsive to the views of their citizens. In the past, the unavailability of data on the policy preferences of citizens at the municipal level has limited scholars' ability to study the responsiveness of municipal government. We overcome this problem by using recent advances in opinion estimation to measure the mean policy conservatism in every U.S. city and town with a population above 20,000 people. Despite the supposition in the literature that municipal politics are non-ideological, we find that the policies enacted by cities across a range of policy areas correspond with the liberal-conservative positions of their citizens on national policy issues. In addition, we consider the influence of institutions, such as the presence of an elected mayor, the popular initiative, partisan elections, term limits, and at-large elections. Our results show that these institutions have little consistent impact on policy responsiveness in municipal government. These results demonstrate a robust role for citizen policy preferences in determining municipal policy outcomes, but cast doubt on the hypothesis that simple institutional reforms enhance responsiveness in municipal governments.
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In: Synthese: an international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science, Band 190, Heft 16, S. 3611-3623
ISSN: 1573-0964
In: CHINA'S MACAO TRANSFORMED: CHALLENGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Eilo W. Y. Yu, Ming K. Chan, eds., Forthcoming
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