POLI 208 Party in the Government

Party support

Occurs when a candidate receives verbal, monetary, and other support from party elites

Clinton’s “third way”

Moderate approach to the 1996 presidential election that aimed to appeal to moderate voters

Centripetal forces

Forces that pull legislators to the ideological center to capture the median voter and win general elections

Centrifugal forces

Froces taht pull legislators away from the ideological center towards the party base, driven by primary elections, activist support, and personal preferences

Theory of Conditional Party Government (CPG)

Claims that the level to which a party governs efficiently is conditional based on two major conditions: internal homogeneity and external differentiation

Party homogeneity

Assess the degree to which members of a party share policy preferences

External differentiation

The extent to which parties are able to be perceived as distinct from one another

Party cartel theory

The majority party functions as a “cartel” that controls the legislative agenda to preserve the party reputation

Positive agenda control

The power of the majority party to push through legislation that is favorable to their goals

Negative agenda control

The power of the majority party to block legislation from the minority party from ever reaching a vote

Structure-induced equilibrium (SIE)

Stability created by institutional constraints in Congress

Preference-induced equilibrium (PIE)

Stability achieved through the alignment of voters without requiring external institutional contraint

Reforms era (1970s)

Series of changes in Congress that fundamentally restructured power in the legislature

Legislative Reorganization Act (1970)

Government act that changed rules regarding committees, decreased power of the chari, empowered minority members, and improved transparency

Subcommittee Bill of Rights (1973)

Democratic caucus change that took away power from committee chairs and empowered subcommittees by granting them budgets and more freedom

Rules committee

Committee that sets rules for debating and voting for bills in the House

Pareto set

The smallest set of goals for a majority party; the most important objectives

Possibility set

Set of policy alternatives that a majority of the majority party prefer to the status quo

Geographic constituency

Largest bounds of a member’s constituency; constituents who live in their district/state

Reelection constituency

Members of a constituency who will support a candidate in a general election

Primary constituency

Strongest supporters; those who would support a candidate in a primary election

Issue evolution

Changes in elite behavior that redefines the public’s perception of and loyalty to a party

Distributional theory of Congress

Legislative rules (committee system) are designed to help members distribute government benefits to win reelection

Informational theory of Congress

Argues that legislative institutions are designed to reduce policy uncertainty and acquire expert info rather than merely facilitate pork-barrel trading

Partisan theory of Congress

committees serve as an arm to the majority party to solve the collective action problem to enable both positive and negative agenda control

Insecure majorities

Competitive elections for control of the House shape how legislators behave

Perpetual campaign

Members of Congress have shifted to focus on partisan messaging and public relations instead of legislating due to insecure majorities

Strategic opposition

Cases in which members will vote no on legislation they prefer to the status quo in order to satisfy their party’s optics