Bruce E. Cain

Political participation of ethnic minorities in the 1980s

Currently political participation, especially voter registration and turnout, varies substantially with ethnicity. Blacks and non-Hispanic whites participate at roughly equal rates, while Latinos and Asian-Americans are substantially less active. This variation may be the direct product of cultural factors, or it may reflect differences in the distribution of various determinants of participation, most notably education, citizenship, and age. Using data collected in 1984 on samples of Californias black, Latino, Asian-American, and non-Hispanic white populations, we conclude that such variables fully account for lower Latino participation rates. Even with these controls, however, Asian-Americans remain less likely to vote. Because ethnic group consciousness is one of the variables related to activity, we conclude that ethnicity does have an indirect effect on participation as a basis for mobilization. In addition, we establish that noncitizens engage in nonelectoral activities, and we project future political participation rates of Latinos and Asian-Americans under several scenarios.

The Acquisition of Partisanship by Latinos and Asian Americans

In this paper we examine the acquisition of partisanship by immigrants and subsequent generations of Latinos and Asian Americans. The data we analyze are derived from a survey of California residents in late 1984. We find that the longer Latino immigrants have been in the United States, the more likely they are to identify as Democrats and to have strong party preferences. We find age-related gains in both Democratic support and in the strength of partisanship among subsequent generations of Latinos as well. In line with our hypotheses about their foreign policy concerns, the data also suggest that immigrants from China, Korea, and Southeast Asia become more Republican with increased exposure to American politics. Other Asian immigrants and subsequent generations of Asian Americans exhibit no such trends in either the direction of their party preferences or in partisan intensity.

Assessing the partisan effects of redistricting

The purpose of this paper is to assess the reality behind the politicians perception that redistricting matters. There are, of course, many dimensions to that perception since redistricting has many effects. This paper will focus on the impact that boundary changes have on the partisan composition of seats. In order to do this, it will be necessary to specify what the expected partisan effects of redistricting are and how they can be measure. Thus, the paper first explains how the impact of redistricting will vary with the strategy of particular plans. Following this, there is an exploration of some techniques for measuring the partisan impact of boundary changes, and then a detailed analysis of the most important Congressional redistricting in 1982—the Burton plan in California.

Advanced Democracies and the New Politics

The popular pressures for reforms of the democratic process have mounted across the OECD nations over the past generation. In response, democratic institutions are changing, evolving, expanding in ways that may alter the structure of the democratic process. These changes include reforms of representative democracy proceses, the expansion of direct democracy, and the introduction of new forms of advocacy democracy. Indeed, some observers claim that we are witnessing the most fundamental transformation of the democratic process since the creation of mass democracy in the early 20th Century. This essay first summarizes the institutional reforms that are occurring in advanced industrial democracies. Given these changes, we consider how each of the three modes fulfills Dahls criteria for democracy, and how the shifting patterns of democratic access are transforming the relationship between citizens and their political system. This essay is adapted from their edited volume, Democracy Transformed? Expanding Political Opportunities in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Oxford University Press, 2003).

The Efficacy of Registration Drives

A great deal of money and effort is devoted to registration drives. New sources of data now make it possible to discover more about who is registered by groups and how many of the new registrants actually vote. Using 1982 registration information from the Los Angeles County Registrar, this note presents some basic descriptive findings that pertain to these questions.

Coalitional Prospects in a Multi-Racial Society: African- American Attitudes Toward Other Minority Groups

This paper analyzes the coalitional perceptions of African-Americans after incorporation in their citys dominant political condition. Our research ad dresses two main questions. First, how do African-Americans view their coalition prospects with other major racial and ethnic minority groups? Here we focus on the perceptions of African-Americans in one city, Los Angeles, toward Latinos and Asian-Americans, and compare their attitudes with those of blacks in other cities. Second, how do these coalitional perceptions fit into a fuller model of political attitudes? This analysis provides us with evidence of generational differences in coalitional perceptions and supports the hypothesis of coalitional entropy.

Party Identification in the United States and Great Britain

Political scientists for some time have questioned the value of party identification in the British context. The most popular objection has been that party identification appears to be less stable and less independent from the vote in Great Britain than in the United States. We attempt to demonstrate that the first objection is based on strong assumptions about how to deal with minor party identifiers and independents while the second can be disputed by showing that short-term forces, and not just measurement error, cause party identification and the vote to covary imperfectly. The analysis is carried out with the original Butler and Stokes data.

Predicting Partisan Redistricting Disputes

Partisan redistricting disputes are relatively rare occurrences. This paper explores the factors that lead to partisan disputes over congressional redistricting plans. In previous work single party control of both houses of the state legislature and the governorship emerged as a key correlate of partisan redistricting in the 1980s. This paper presents an interactive statistical model of partisan redistricting plans. The basic conclusion is that in addition to single party control, the nature of the voting role and the political competitiveness of the states effect the likelihood of partisan redistricting.

The Constituency Component A Comparison of Service in Great Britain and the United States

The policymaking component of representation in the United States and Great Britain has been closely studied and compared, but the constituency component—the handling of constituent complaints and the protection of constituency interests—is less well understood. This article considers two questions about the constituency component of representation: how much and what kinds of casework services do MPs as opposed to members of Congress provide, and second, what are the statistical determinants of these activities? With regard to the first question, our findings indicate that MPs devote more of their own time to constituency work than do members of Congress. In addition, we identify representatives on both sides of the Atlantic who adopt a more aggressive strategy toward their constituency work. This strategy is manifested by such activities as publicizing successful cases, handling cases that concern local government matters, the frequency of surgeries, and the active solicitation of cases. In the second part of this article, we model these activities as being related to the electoral margin, party, and the year the representative was elected. These estimations indicate that casework entrepreneurs in both countries are most likely to be in marginal seats, recently elected, and Democrats or Labour.

British MPs in Their Constituencies

This paper examines the relationships between British MPs and local officials and councillors for evidence of accommodation or resistance to the representational activities and styles of MPs. It is based on structured interviews in eight constituencies, including interviews with the MPs, local councillors, CEOs, and other officials. The activities of MPs in their constituencies can be categorized into four nonexclusive groupings: casework, projects, gaining visibility, and party maintenance. Each of these activities may create tensions in a constituency, with casework (mostly housing cases) and gaining visibility the most frequently mentioned sources of tension. Divided partisan representation and electoral competitiveness at both the council and parliamentary levels resulted in a great deal of tension. Where the same party controlled both the local council and the parliamentary seat, tensions were largely kept within the party.