Women on the Sidelines: Women's Representation on Committees in Latin American Legislatures

This article explores how new groups can be marginalized after they gain representation in the legislature. We use data from six Latin American legislatures to examine the effect of institutional and political factors on how traditionally dominant male political leaders distribute scarce political resources—committee assignments—to female newcomers. In general, we find that women tend to be isolated on women's issues and social issues committees and kept off of power and economics/foreign affairs committees as the percentage of legislators who are women increases, when party leaders or chamber presidents control committee assignments, and when the structure of the committee system provides a specific committee to deal with women's issues. Thus, to achieve full incorporation into the legislative arena, newcomers must do more than just win seats. They must change the institutions that allow the traditionally dominant group to hoard scarce political resources .     

The 1986 Midterm Elections for Governor and State Legislatures: A Modest Departure From Past Patterns

The 1986 midterm election results departed from the normal patternin which the president's party loses governorships and controlof a significant number of state legislative chambers. For thefirst time since World War II, the presidential party scoreda net gain in governors. At the same time, it sustained onlyminor losses in the legislatures. The election was unusual inthe degree to which national forces, which normally work tothe disadvantage of the president's party, were neutralized.The exposure/base year variable and the large number of open-seatcontests worked to produce a high level of partisan change amongthe governorships. The absence of a strong national trend, coupledwith the increasing institutionalization of state legislatures,worked against partisan change in the legislatures. Nationalparty involvement in state elections increased and is resultingin more integrated party structures.     

The World on the Box: International Issues in News and Factual Programmes

A report on factual international programmes shown on UK TV in 2003 reveals that the total of hours broadcast is similar that of previous years. However, there has been a drop in the number of programmes on developing countries, and the definition of 'factual international' covers a misleadingly wide range - including game shows and travel programmes. The amount of developing country coverage on terrestrial TV is the lowest since the measurement began in 1989. Many serious programmes on developing countries are now shown exclusively on the new BBC digital channels. It appears that ITV is no longer fulfilling its public service remit to broadcast programmes covering 'matters of international significance and interest'. The proportion of foreign coverage in television news increased in 2003 across all bulletins, as a result of the Iraq war.     

The War on Terrorism and the Administration of the American State

Conditions of war lead to a style of teleocratic governance and administration that is at odds with the idea of civil association reflected in the American constitutional state. As a result, war can put our traditional notions of humanity, pluralism, and limited government at risk. In order to defend the values of civil association, public administrators should understand and appreciate the principles undergirding our constitutional system of governance and administration.     

和谐世界:中国崛起之后的国际战略理念

国际社会对中国的和平崛起以及崛起之后存有诸多疑虑和猜测,认为中国崛起之后存在许多不确定性。中国必须提出一个“崛起之后”的国际大战略。构建“和谐世界”就是一个关于中国崛起之后的国际战略理念和国家发展的终极目标。这个大理念的提出给中国的发展指明了一个奋斗的目标和行动的原则,也给国际社会带来了一个乐观的前景,说明中国要承担更多的国际责任,树立积极的、负责任的、建设性的大国形象。     

Comparing Legislators and Legislatures: The Dynamics of Legislative Gridlock Reconsidered

Lawrence S. Rothenberg Department of Political Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627 e-mail: lrot{at}mail.rochester.edu (corresponding author) Although political methodologists are well aware of measurementissues and the problems that can be created, such concerns arenot always front and center when we are doing substantive research.Here, we show how choices in measuring legislative preferenceshave influenced our understanding of what determines legislativeoutputs. Specifically, we replicate and extend Binder's highlyinfluential analysis (Binder, Sarah A. 1999. The dynamics oflegislative gridlock, 1947–96. American Political ScienceReview 93:519–33; see also Binder, Sarah A. 2003. Stalemate:Causes and consequences of legislative gridlock. Washington,DC: Brookings Institution) of legislative gridlock, which emphasizeshow partisan, electoral, and institutional characteristics generatemajor legislative initiatives. Binder purports to show thatexamining the proportion, rather than the absolute number, ofkey policy proposals passed leads to the inference that thesefeatures, rather than divided government, are crucial for explaininggridlock. However, we demonstrate that this finding is underminedby flaws in preference measurement. Binder's results are a functionof using W-NOMINATE scores never designed for comparing Senateto House members or for analyzing multiple Congresses jointly.When preferences are more appropriately measured with commonspace scores (Poole, Keith T. 1998. Recovering a basic spacefrom a set of issue scales. American Journal of Political Science42:964–93), there is no evidence that the factors thatshe highlights matter. Authors' note: Thanks to Sarah Binder and Keith Poole for furnishingdata used in our analysis and to Chris Achen and Kevin Clarkefor advice. All errors remain our own. Online appendix is availableon the Political Analysis Web site.     

Negotiating International Food Standards: The World Trade Organization's Impact on the Codex Alimentarius Commission

The article presents an empirical account of how the role, position, and perception of the intergovernmental food standardization body, Codex Alimentarius Commission, has changed after being referred to by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the "central reference point for the elaboration of international food standards." Both the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement and the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement include provisions that encourage WTO members to base their national regulations on international standards. The article focuses on key issues in the Codex that may have a significant impact on international food trade. The overall conclusion is that the WTO has contributed to constraining the activity and shaping the expectations of Codex members. Governments participating in Codex activities have changed their behavior after 1995 due to increased uncertainty with respect to how decisions in Codex may be binding for them under the WTO Agreements.     

The American Governors in International Affairs

The involvement of American governors in matters of internationalaffairs has increased significantly since the 1950s. The twomajor factors accounting for this involvement are increasedinternational economic interdependence and increased modernizationof state governments. Gubernatorial involvement in internationalaffairs is centered primarily around state needs to export productsand attract foreign investment, though other foreign policymatters also attract gubernatorial attention. Governors promotestate interests by lobbying the federal government through theintergovernmental system and by traveling abroad and otherwiseestablishing direct relations with foreign governments, usuallyequivalent or similar constituent governments of foreign nations.     

The Effect of Electoral Geography on Pork Barreling in Bicameral Legislatures

How does the electoral geography of legislative districts affect pork barreling? This article presents a formal model extending Mayhew's classic credit‐claiming theory to account for the electoral geography of bicameralism. Under bicameralism, upper chamber (Senate) and lower chamber (Assembly) legislators who share overlapping constituencies must collaborate to bring home pork projects. Collaboration is easier between a Senator and an Assembly Member who share a large fraction of their constituents and thus have relatively aligned electoral incentives. But dividing a Senate district into a larger number of Assembly district fragments misaligns these electoral incentives for collaboration, thus reducing equilibrium pork spending. Hence, increased Senate district fragmentation causes a decrease in equilibrium spending. I exploit the 2002 New York Senate expansion as a natural experiment, examining how sudden changes in the geographic fragmentation of Senate districts account for differences in the distribution of pork earmarks immediately before and after the redrawing of district boundaries.     

Civil Society Influence on International Organizations: Theorizing the State Channel

Abstract

The literature on transnational civil society tends to treat civil society organizations (CSOs) as independent actors, accomplishing policy change largely through moral force or popular pressure. However, a significant portion of CSO successes in policy advocacy actually utilizes alliances with state actors. To understand the implications of this ‘state channel’ of CSO influence, we develop a new model of CSO use of state influence. We identify four factors that determine whether the state channel is accessible for CSOs to use and is likely to produce more effective CSO influence than direct CSO engagement with the international organization (IO): the porousness of the targeted states and IOs, the availability of contacts, the possibility for alignment of interests, and the relative power of aligned state and IO contacts. We illustrate this theory using four case studies of civil society engagement: two case studies involving the World Bank and two involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Our analysis suggests that the factors determining CSOs' successful use of the state channel currently tend to favour a small number of well-resourced, reformist CSOs from porous and powerful states.