Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Reilly, Jack
Area of Concentration
Political Science
Abstract
At the heart of Political Science is the study of representation and what makes for adequate representation. Political Science literature broaches the answers to these questions by devising ways of measuring and determining individual legislative effectiveness. This thesis relies on the definition of effectiveness that suggests that lawmakers are more effective when they are able to pass and sponsor more laws than their peers. Further, this paper intends to address the gaps within legislative effectiveness literature that disregards contextual factors, like congressional polarization, and its effects on individual lawmaker ability to pass laws. The contextual factors chosen are party unity scores, presidential support scores, and district electoral marginals. The two Congresses chosen for analysis are the 94th (1975-1977) and the111th Congress (2009-2011). Overall, the paper finds a lack in statistical significance with the context variables chosen in both congresses and determinants like seniority, majority party status, and holding a committee chair position matter more for predicting increased effectiveness. However, statistical interactions that reached significance show that contextual factors influence members of congress differently, depending on the other individual determinants they possess, like levels of seniority and party status.
Recommended Citation
Napoline, Kimberly, "Introducing Context to the Determinants of Individual Legislative Effectiveness in the U.S. House of Representatives" (2016). Theses & ETDs. 5252.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5252