Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
201
result(s) for
"Studlar, Donley T."
Sort by:
Determinants of Legislative Turnover: A Cross-National Analysis
Two decades of turnover data were collected for the national legislature of twenty-five industrialized countries. After a discussion of turnover's significance, we compare turnover rates across countries. A set of variables expected to influence turnover rates is described and multiple regression is used to test the hypotheses developed. Results show that frequency of elections, opportunity for double listings, electoral volatility and legislative institutionalization have statistically significant effects on turnover. In addition the type of electoral system (majoritarian versus proportional representation) is shown to have a statistically and substantively significant effect, with turnover much greater in the latter. Possible explanations for this effect are explored.
Journal Article
Federalism and Multilevel Governance in Tobacco Policy: the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Devolved UK Institutions
Most studies of tobacco control policy focus on the central level of national governments. Yet within the European Union, three levels of government have responsibilities for tobacco control: the EU; the central governments of member states; and provinces or devolved levels of government. This article examines the role of each in the formation of tobacco policy in the United Kingdom. It compares the theory of regulatory federalism with multilevel governance as explanations for tobacco regulatory policy within the EU. While executive-legislative fusion in the United Kingdom leads to the practice of discretionary federalism, the EU provides mixed support for the theory of regulatory federalism. There is significant policy innovation in the UK and its devolved territories as well as limited policy authority for tobacco control in the EU. Overall, multi-level governance (MLG) may be a superior, albeit incomplete, explanation of tobacco control within the EU and the UK.
Journal Article
Toward the permissive society? Morality policy agendas and policy directions in Western democracies
Employing two theories of morality policy, Policy Types and the \"Two Worlds\" of religious/secular party systems, we describe and attempt to explain the empirical patterns for five morality policy issues (abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, assisted reproductive technology/stem cell research, and same-sex marriage) across 24 Western democracies since World War II. What is the content of policy adoption? Are some countries consistently more permissive or restrictive on morality issues? How long do these issues stay on the political agenda? These issues have been on the agendas of all of the countries for varying time periods, with some being older in vintage (death penalty, abortion, euthanasia) than others (ART/stem cells and same-sex marriage). The general tendency has been toward greater permissiveness, but there still remains considerable policy diversity. While there has been substantial change on morality policies in Western democracies since World War II, the change is more thorough in some jurisdictions and in some regions more than others.
Journal Article
A Qualitative Study to Explore Perception of Impacts of Preemption of Tobacco Regulation on Counties in Appalachian Tennessee
Bottom-up processes, starting at the local government level, are valuable for more-stringent tobacco control measures. The existence of industry-backed state-level tobacco control preemption in states has impeded policy progress within the state and localities/communities. A national public health goal under Healthy People 2020 is to eliminate state-level preemption across the United States. This study explored individual-level perceptions of the impact of state-level preemption in Appalachian Tennessee—a high-smoking, low-income region. During 2015–2016, a community-engagement project to develop a Population Health Improvement Plan (PHIP) involving over 200 stakeholders and 90 organizations was conducted in Appalachian Tennessee to identify policies/programs to address tobacco use. Using a multifaceted framework approach that focused on prevention, protection, and cessation, interviews and meeting discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed. Content analysis using NVivo 11 was conducted to generate themes. Although the central focus of the PHIP was not preemption, the issue emerged naturally in the discussions as a major concern among participants. Cultural and normative factors in Appalachian Tennessee were identified as key rationales for participants’ aversion to state preemption. Thus, repealing preemption would facilitate culturally tailored and region-specific policies/programs to the high tobacco use among Appalachian Tennessee communities where statewide/nationwide policies/programs have not had the intended impacts.
Journal Article
The Contagion of Women Candidates in Single-Member District and Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Canada and Norway
There is a distinct gap in women's representation in national legislatures between countries with single-member district electoral systems and those with proportional representation electoral systems. While this gap has been well documented, there have been only limited attempts at explaining its existence. After reviewing the literature on the representation gap, we turn to the party change literature and propose a modified contagion theory as one possible explanation for the gap. Contagion theory suggests that traditional parties will feel pressured to nominate more women if one of their political rivals, usually a smaller party farther to the left, starts to promote representation of women. We distinguish between macrocontagion and microcontagion and argue that especially microcontagion is more likely to occur in party list proportional representation systems than in single-member district systems. This should be true because contagion pressures are more likely to develop, and the costs of adapting to these pressures are less, in party list proportional representation systems. We formally test for microcontagion at the electoral district level in Canada and Norway, both leaders among their type of electoral systems in female representation. The data confirm our hypothesis by showing no indication of microcontagion in Canada, but evidence of such an effect in Norway.
Journal Article
Bandwagon, Underdog, or Projection? Opinion Polls and Electoral Choice in Britain, 1979–1987
Since the widespread use of opinion polls in British general elections began in the 1950s, there has been continuing controversy concerning their impact on the vote. The bandwagon effect sees voters favoring a party that is doing well in the polls, while the underdog effect predicts that support will go to a party trailing in the polls. There is also the possibility of a projection effect, with voters' expectations conforming to their partisanship. The results presented here, applying logistic regression to “exit poll” survey data collected during the 1979, 1983, and 1987 British general election campaigns, find some evidence of a bandwagon effect in all three elections, but no evidence of an underdog effect and only minor evidence of a projection effect. However, there is a consistent interaction between poll influence and those who decided which way to vote during the election campaign, suggesting that opinion polls can facilitate tactical voting, especially in three-party competition.
Journal Article
What Explains the Paradox of Tobacco Control Policy under Federalism in the U.S. and Canada? Comparative Federalism Theory versus Multi-level Governance
Canada is generally recognized as having more decentralized federalism than the United States. Even though the content of tobacco control policy in the two countries has been similar, the United States has had a more decentralized process, with policy usually led by the state level, while Canada has had a centralized process, with most initiatives coming from the federal government. This article examines this anomaly, utilizing two different approaches to intergovernmental relations, Kelemen’s “comparative federalism” and Hooghe and Marks’ “multi-level governance” (MLG). Overall, MLG is a better explanation for tobacco control policy in both countries, especially in the U.S. Discretionary implementation from the central level in parliamentary systems, unitary or federal, may be more broadly applicable than the legalistic implementation of separation-of-powers systems.
Journal Article
Monarchy and the British Political Elite: Closet Republicans in the House of Commons
Until now, no academic study has explored the extent and nature of antimonarchism in the British House of Commons. In a statistically representative survey sample, 44 percent of all Members of Parliament identified themselves as \"republicans,\" nearly twice the share in the
British public at large. However, 86 percent called this a personal opinion only. While there may not be a groundswell of active republicanism in the Commons, a substantial group of sympathetic MPs exists who might be willing to seize on a future public crisis in the monarchy in order to effect
reforms. Lacking party leadership support, republican MPs are not optimistic about change in the short-to-medium term
Journal Article
Is Canada a Westminster or Consensus Democracy? A Brief Analysis
Because of its mix of institutions and practices, the fundamental
nature of the government of Canada is a problematic case for scholars. A
reconsideration of the Canadian polity needs to be undertaken because of
events over the past quarter century, such as the development of executive
federalism; the repatriation of a revised Constitution from the
supervision of the United Kingdom over the objections of Quebec; the
rejection of the constitutional settlements in the Meech Lake Accord
(1990) and the Charlottetown Accord (1992); increased attention to the
claims of Aboriginal peoples; increased movements for relaxing party
discipline in Parliament and for a more proportional electoral system;
increased controversy over the use of judicial review in interpreting the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and, above all, the ongoing problem of
national unity, especially stemming from the Quebec separatist
movement.An earlier version of this paper
was presented at a conference of the Association of Canadian Studies,
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thanks to Arend Lijphart for data and
comments.
Journal Article