Collaborative Research: Party Effects in Congress

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

Political scientists have long attempted to measure and describe the modest and contingent effects of party on the behavior of members of Congress and on policy choices. They have done so without specifying models that reflect the multiple ways in which parties might influence choice. In this investigation, the researchers: 1) directly model alternative forms of party effects; 2) extend the analysis for the entire post-Civil War period in order to encompass the various rules and partisan regimes that might be associated with different forms of party influence; 3) compare preference and party effects in different institutional contests (House and Senate); and, 5) compare preference and party effects in "must pass legislation" and in bills where a sizable contingent prefers the reversion point. This project enhances substantially our understanding of the topic and produces a database that will be of use for numerous other scholars interested in the topic.