Passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) presents an opportunity to contribute to longstanding inquiries into the political safeguards of federalism by identifying the mechanisms through which state officials are able to wield influence in the congressional policy...

Given its recent development of becoming a fully fledged legislature in EU politics, the European Parliament is increasingly compared to the USA House of Representatives. At the same time, a lot of scholars that have analyzed the evolution of party cohesion within the European Parliament (see,...

Using a simple model similar to one that correctly predicted a party turnover in the House of Representatives in 2006, the chance of the Republicans recapturing the chamber is estimated. According to the model, the odds are against them, sufficient to stoke their hopes for success

In recent election cycles, Republican members of Congress distanced themselves, at least rhetorically, from an unpopular party image and president. Why should the behavior of members change in the short-term if there are no changes in ideology or membership? This project explores two...

In this paper, we seek to make two distinct contributions to knowledge about the EP. First, we introduce a significant new source of data about the parliament: provisional results from a new survey conducted of the parliament's membership. We explain the overall purpose of the survey, its...

Studies of legislatures often link electoral conditions and party preferences to policy outcomes. These studies link electoral strategies and measures of party preferences to legislator behavior or government expenditures, such as support for welfare spending. In this paper, I further consider...

Numerous studies have examined the roll call voting behavior of women in Congress. Much of this scholarship has focused on whether female legislators tend to be more liberal than their male colleagues. However, most of this research has examined whether gender differences exist within a specific...

In this article, we present a forecast of the 2010 midterm House election based on information available in early July 2010. We combine this forecast with a note of caution, explaining why electoral circumstances might lead our forecast to err. Finally, we present guidance regarding how to...

Recent research treats foreign aid and oil revenue as similar non-tax resources that hurt the prospects of democratization. Building on theories of state finance and democratization, this paper examines one avenue through which these resources affect democratization: government spending during...