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"Legislatures in Evolution presents a series of essays on evolution and change in the legislative context. They cover a wide range of topics, including both proposed and implemented reforms. The contributions included here discuss parliamentarians' attitude toward party discipline; the specific challenges associated with implementing sexual harassment policies within legislatures; the consequences of the Supreme Court's ruling in Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada on the government's duty to consult Indigenous Peoples when drafting legislation; parliamentarians' engagement in budgetary control issues; the reform of the rules governing prayers in the Legislature of British Columbia; and time management reforms in the Legislative Assembly of Yukon. Charles Feldman, Geneviève Tellier, David Groves, and their contributors bring together both practical and academic experience and perspectives. They conclude with an analysis of parliamentary reforms, paying particular attention to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the functioning of legislatures."

"State legislatures hold tremendous authority over key facets of our lives, in domains ranging from healthcare to education to election administration. And in an era of polarization and frequent policy gridlock at the national level, their significance has only increased. Political scientist Steven Rogers asks what voters know about state legislators, whether they have a meaningful opportunity to register their preferences in state legislative elections, and if there is evidence of accountability for performance in the outcomes of those elections. Drawing on broad-ranging evidence and creative research strategies, Rogers shows that, most often, state legislatures can produce policies contrary to citizens' priorities with little fear of being held accountable at the ballot box. Assembling an encyclopedic range of data on candidacy and retirements, lawmaker issue stances, news coverage, general elections, primaries, electoral competition, legislator effectiveness, state economic performance, public opinion, voter knowledge, and election outcomes, this book foregrounds a major issue: Voters do not know enough about their state representatives. They are often not presented with alternatives in elections where incumbents routinely run unopposed, and outcomes normally fail to correlate with indicators of legislative performance, either for individual lawmakers or in the aggregate performance of state government"--

Lawmaking provides many opportunities for proposals to be altered, amended, tabled, or stopped completely. The ideal legislator should assess evidence, update his or her beliefs with new information, and sometimes be willing to change course. In practice, however, lawmakers face criticism from the media, the public, and their colleagues for "flip-flopping." Legislators may also only appear to change positions in some cases as a means of voting strategically. This book presents a systematic examination of legislative indecision in American politics. This might occur via "waffling"--where a legislator cosponsors a bill, then votes against it at roll call. Or it might occur when a legislator votes one way on a bill, then switches her vote to the other side. In Indecision in American Legislatures, Jeffrey J. Harden and Justin H. Kirkland develop a theoretical framework to explain indecision itself, as well as the public's attitudes toward indecision. They test their expectations with data sources from American state legislatures, the U.S. Congress, and survey questions administered to American citizens. Understanding legislative indecision from both the legislator and citizen perspectives is important for discussions about the quality of representation in American politics