We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Electoral Institutions, the Personal Vote, and Legislative Organization.
- Authors
MARTIN, SHANE
- Abstract
What is the relationship between electoral institutions and the internal organization of legislatures? Existing research on the U.S. Congress suggests that electoral incentives shaped by the candidate-centered nature of congressional elections explain the emergence of strong committees in that legislature. Exploring the issue from a comparative perspective, it is argued that the impact of ballot structure on committee system structure is dependent on how legislators cultivate personal votes. Committees will be stronger when legislators supply fiscal legislative particularism (pork), but weaker when legislators cultivate support by delivering extra-legislative constituency service. Statistical analysis, combining original data on committee design in 39 democratic legislatures with measures of ballot structure and mechanism to cultivate a personal vote (MCPV), confirms the expectation.
- Subjects
UNITED States; UNITED States Congressional committees; PARTICULARISM (Political science); LEGISLATIVE voting; ORGANIZATIONAL structure; LEGISLATIVE bodies
- Publication
Legislative Studies Quarterly, 2011, Vol 36, Issue 3, p339
- ISSN
0362-9805
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1939-9162.2011.00018.x