The Power of Economic Interests Under Direct versus Representative Democracy The power of economic interest groups to influence policy outcomes is a common theme in economics and political science. Most theories posit that interest group power arises from the ability to influence elected or appointed government officials, that is, by exploiting the representative part of democracy.…
Beyond a Reliable Vote: Coordination and Information Problems in Congressional Nominations Research in collaboration with: Knox Brown, Angela Ocampo, Shawn Patterson, John Ray and John Zaller Congressional primaries, like primary elections in general, are imagined to give voters, rather than party elites, the ability to choose which candidate wins the nomination. Indeed, we might expect primary…
Robert McKenrick is the Veteran Administration’s Executive Director, Clinical Care (SES) of greater Los Angeles. McKenrick spoke about his leadership philosophy, the educational and career path to his current position, and challenges he faced along the way.
The Challenge of Measuring Political Polarization in the US over Time using Congressional Roll Call Votes Jeff Lewis is professor of Political Science, UCLA. He is also the current president of the Society for Political Methodology. His research and teaching are in the areas of quantitative methodology and American politics. *Political Institutions and Political Economy
The 2018 Holt Lecture featured a conversation with Gretchen Carlson, formerly of Fox News, and Professor Lisa Schweitzer. Carlson helped change the cultural conversation around sexual harassment in the workplace when she filed and won a lawsuit against the then-chairman of Fox News, Roger Ailes, for sexual harassment. Since that time, she has “walked off the set” and began…
Janna Rezaee, Assistant Professor, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, received her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley. “Revolving Doors” co-authored by Ryan Hubert, UC Berkeley Janna Rezaee’s research focuses on the “revolving door” between government and the private sector as an institutional response to policy-development monopolies. The prevailing wisdom about the revolving door is that…
As an actress, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, producer and filmmaker of American Indian performing arts including programming on her Red Nation Media Network Channel, Joanelle Romero has entertained, inspired, moderated, enlightened the general public for nearly 30 years. Using media as a primary tool, Romero has created a connection within Indian Country including the film, television and music industries…
Legislative solutions to society’s pressing problems usually require compromise, but we find that around a quarter of state legislators and many elected city officials reject proposals that move policy in their preferred direction and make them better off. The legislators who reject compromise proposals tend to be those who perceive that their voters – especially their primary voters – are likely to punish them for compromising. This threat of punishment also affects the voting behavior of members of Congress.
Brian Newman discussed his research paper (co-authored with John Griffin of University of Colorado, Boulder). Newman studies the racial consequences of presidential incentives to move toward the median voter as elections approach.
Partisan polarization has steadily increased in recent years. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have become two ideologically divided groups, with little ability to work together to solve the nation’s problems. And, citizens have increasingly used partisanship to guide their voting decisions, even as they diverge more and more on answers to the important questions of the day.
As we moved into the second year of Trump’s administration, we explored what partisanship looks like in Congress and the nation.