Turning the Legislative Thumbscrew: Minority Rights and Procedural Change in Legislative PoliticsUniversity of Michigan Press, 30 Ιουλ 2001 - 309 σελίδες The use of filibusters in the U.S. Senate by small numbers of members to prevent legislative action apparently desired by a majority of the members--as evidenced by the battles over civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s--is legendary. Similar situations have existed in other legislative bodies over time. The fear that they will at some time be in the minority has inhibited actions by the majority groups to control the right of minority groups to block legislative action. And yet from time to time the majority in a legislative body has forced a change in the rules to control the rights of the minority. When does the majority seek to limit minority rights to obstruct legislation? Douglas Dion, in a unique study, develops a formal model to set out the conditions under which majorities will limit minority rights. He finds that when majorities are small, they will be more cohesive. This majority cohesion leads to minority obstruction, which in turn leads to majority efforts to force procedural change to control the ability of the minority to obstruct legislation. Dion then tests his findings in a rich consideration of historical cases from the nineteenth-century U.S. House of Representatives, the nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. Senate, the British House of Commons, and an account of the Austro-Hungarian Parliament written by Mark Twain. Turning the Legislative Thumbscrew is a work that combines formal analysis with extensive historical evidence to address an important problem in democratic theory. Specialists in legislative politics and American political development, as well as those more broadly interested in the relationship between democratic theory and institutional structure, will find the work of great interest. Douglas Dion is Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan. |
Περιεχόμενα
A Partisan Theory of Obstruction | 21 |
Evidence from the U S House 183795 | 39 |
Rules Changes in the Antebellum House | 79 |
Πνευματικά δικαιώματα | |
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Turning the Legislative Thumbscrew: Minority Rights and Procedural Change in ... Douglas Dion Περιορισμένη προεπισκόπηση - 2001 |
Turning the Legislative Thumbscrew: Minority Rights and Procedural Change in ... George Douglas Dion Περιορισμένη προεπισκόπηση - 2010 |
Turning the Legislative Thumbscrew: Minority Rights and Procedural Change in ... Douglas Dion Περιορισμένη προεπισκόπηση - 2001 |
Συχνά εμφανιζόμενοι όροι και φράσεις
1880 rules change 47th Congress 51st Congress 53rd Congress adopted amendment appears argued argument assumptions Ausgleich bill caucus caucus equilibrium chapter cloture cloture rule cloture votes coalition column Committee on Rules Congress Conservatives considered debate Democrats dependent variable dilatory disappearing quorum discussion election electoral filibuster floor Gladstone Home Rule House of Commons individuals institutional issues legislatures limit minority rights limit obstruction majority party majority proportion majority rule Martis measure minority obstruction noted obstructionist one-tailed test Parnell Parnell's partisan party cohesion party proportion party voting percent level points of order Poisson regression Polk predicted presented previous question procedural change proportion of seats proposed reciprocity Redlich Reed Reed's reform regression Republicans riders rights to obstruct roll call seats held Senate session simply small majorities Speaker strategy suggest tactics theory Thomas Brackett Reed tion Twain two-tailed test U.S. Senate Whig workload