The Logic of Congressional Action - Couverture rigide

Arnold, R. Douglas

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0300048343 ISBN 13 : 9780300048346

Editeur : Yale University Press, 1990

Synopsis

Congress regularly enacts laws that benefit particular groups or localities while imposing costs on everyone else. Sometimes, however, Congress breaks free of such parochial concerns and enacts bills that serve the general public, not just special interest groups. In this book, the author offers a theory that explains not only why special interest frequently triumph but also why the general public sometimes wins. By showing how legislative leaders build coalitions for both types of programs, he illuminates recent legislative decisions in such areas as economic, tax, and energy policy. The author's theory of policy making rests on a reinterpretation of the relationship between legislators' actions and their constituents' policy preferences. Most scholars explore the impact that citizens' existing policy preferences have on legislators' decisions. They ignore citizens who have no opinions because they assume that uninformed citizens cannot possibly affect legislators' choices. Arnold examines the influence of citizens' potential preferences, however, and argues that legislators also respond to these preferences in order to avoid future electoral problems. He shows how legislators estimate the political consequences of their voting decisions, taking into account both the existing preferences of attentive citizens and the potential preferences of inattentive citizens. He then analyzes how coalition leaders manipulate the legislative situation in order to make it attractive for legislators to support a general interest bill

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Yale University Press
• Date d'édition: 1990
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0300048343
• ISBN 13: 9780300048346
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 294
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible