Legislatures

1
Legislatures
PS 202 -- American Political Institutions and
Processes
Fall 2000
2
Legislative Organization and Coalitions
-Three Dimensions
Structural Coherence
Centralized
Provides Information About Coalition Needs ?
The number of locations that need a favorable
coalition ? Where the coalition is needed ? The
base upon which to build the coalition
Decentralized
Fragmented
Coalition Size (Party)
50
Coalition Unity (Party)
3
Alternative Decision Rules for Citizens in
Congressional Elections
Incumbent Performance Rule
R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional
Action, Table 3.1.
4
Simple Model of Policymaking for Incumbent
Performance Rule
Time T-3 T-2 T-1 T0 T1 T2 T3
first-order effect
second-order effect
third-order effect
individual policy activism
collective policy action
legislators announced position
individual roll-call vote
side effect
side effect
side effect
POLICY-MAKING CHAIN
POLICY EFFECTS CHAIN
Conditions for Traceability
visible individual contributions
identifiable governmental actions
perceptible policy effects
Time T-2 and T-1 T0 T1, T2, and T3
R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional
Action, p. 47.
5
Simple Model of Policymaking for Incumbent
Performance Rule
T0
T-3
T-2
T-1
T1
T2
T3
Time
first-order effect
second-order effect
third-order effect
individual policy activism
collective policy action
legislators announced position
individual roll-call vote
side effect
side effect
side effect
Policy-Making Chain
Policy Effects Chain
Conditions for Traceability
identifiable governmental actions
visible individual contributions
perceptible policy effects
Time
T-2 and T-1
T0
T1, T2 and T3
R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional
Action, p. 47.
6
Alternative Decision Rules for Citizens in
Congressional Elections
Party Performance Rule
R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional
Action, Table 3.1.
7
Simple Model of Policymaking for Incumbent
Performance Rule
Party
Legislature that is Centralized
, Decentralized
, Fragmented
T0
T-3
T-2
T-1
T1
T2
T3
Time
first-order effect
second-order effect
third-order effect
individual policy activism
collective policy action
legislators announced position
individual roll-call vote
side effect
side effect
side effect
Policy-Making Chain
Policy Effects Chain
Conditions for Traceability
identifiable governmental actions
visible individual contributions
perceptible policy effects
Time
T-2 and T-1
T0
T1, T2 and T3
R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional
Action, p. 47.
8
Effects of Retrospective Voting
Politically Infeasible Policies
Politically Attractive Policies
Impose large, direct, early-order costs on ones
constituents
Deliver perceptible benefits to ones
constituents for which one can claim credit
How avoid?
Distributive Policy
R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional
Action.
9
Coalition Building
Three Strategic Approaches

• Strategies of Persuasion
• Procedural Strategies
• Strategies of Modification

R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional
Action.
10
Set Up Chief Executives
PS 202 -- American Political Institutions and
Processes
Fall 2000
11
Images of Leadership Opportunities
Deterministic
Automaton
Legalist
Reactor
Agency
Autocrat
Barometer
Environment
Transformer
Transactor
Richard Neustadt, Presidential Power
Free Spirit
Probabilistic
Mark Peterson, Presidential Power and the
Potential for Leadership, 2000.
12
Richard Neustadt, Presidential Power
Four-Point Foundation of His Argument
1. The Chief Executives position is unique, and
thus so is his or her perspective
1. The Chief Executives position is unique, and
thus so is his or her perspective
2. Because of the constitutional separated
institutions sharing powers, the position of the
chief executive is unique, but his or her power
is not -- it is shared
2. Because of the constitutional separated
institutions sharing powers, the position of the
chief executive is unique, but his or her power
is not -- it is shared
3. Power means having actual influence on
governmental action
3. Power means having actual influence on
governmental action
4. Formal powers, from constitutional and
statutory authority, are never irrelevant to
power, but they are rarely sufficient to ensure
actual influence
13
Protecting Future Power Stakes
Public Prestige
Public Prestige
Public Prestige
Public Prestige
D
D
D
Reputation
Reputation
Reputation
Reputation
T1
T2
T3
Current Decision
Future Power Stakes
From Richard Neustadt, Presidential Power
14
The Contexts of Chief Executive Influence
15
The Contexts of Chief Executive Influence
Institutional Arrangements
16
The Contexts of Chief Executive Influence
Institutional Characteristics
Political Characteristics
17
The Contexts of Chief Executive Influence
Institutional Characteristics
Political Characteristics
Economic Resources
18
The Contexts of Chief Executive Influence
Institutional Characteristics
Political Characteristics
Economic Resources
Programmatic Characteristics
19
The Contexts of Chief Executive Influence
Institutional Characteristics
Political Characteristics
Economic Resources
Programmatic Characteristics
Strategic Organizational Choices
20
The Contexts of Chief Executive Influence
Institutional Characteristics
Political Characteristics
Tactical Choices and Actions
Economic Resources
Programmatic Characteristics
Strategic Organizational Choices
Influence
21
Institutional Arrangements

• Constitutional Features
• Organization of the Legislature
• Organization of the Party System
• Organization of the Interest Group System
• Organization of the Executive Branch
• Role of the Courts

22
Political Characteristics

• Partisan Distribution of Seats in the
  Legislature
• Number of Seats
• Unified vs. Divided Government
• Election Results for Chief Executive
• Popular Vote (and Electoral College Vote)
• Presence of a Mandate
• Public Opinion
• Chief Executives Public Standing
• Policy Opinion
• Strategic Use of Public Opinion

23
Economic Resources

• The Status of the Economy
• Unemployment
• Inflation
• The Federal Budget
• Deficit vs. Surplus

24
Programmatic Characteristics

• Using a Legislative versus Administrative
  Approach
• Timing of the Agenda
• Scope of the Policy Initiatives
• Substantive Characteristics of the Policy
  Initiatives

Constituent
Distributive
Regulatory
Redistributive
25
Strategic Organizational Choices

• Executive Office of the President
• White House Staff (hierarchy, adhocracy, multiple
  advocacy)
• Office of Management and Budget (Neutral
  Competence vs . Responsive Competence)
• Cabinet
• Fusion vs. Separation of Powers
• Cabinet Government vs. White House Control

26
Tactical Choices and Actions

• Anticipating Reactions in Policy Formulation
• Approach to Policy Formulation
• Involve the Legislature or Keep Secret
• Partisan, Copartisan, Bipartisan, Cross Partisan
  (Jones)
• Overall Approach to Influencing Other Policy
  Makers
• Chief Executives Individual Involvement
• Level of Involvement
• Style of Involvement (Bargaining, Going Public)

27
Congressional Responses to Presidential
Initiatives
Overall Enacted
67
48
69
46
25
33
54
Mark A. Peterson, Legislating Together, 1990,
Table 7.1.
28
Presidential Legislative Lobbying Effort by
Individual Presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan
!
p lt .10
Mark A. Peterson, Legislating Together, 1990,
Table 7.3.