Richard S. Conley

Civic Engagement and Particularized Trust The Ties that Bind People to their Ethnic Communities

In this article, we argue that not all social connections contribute to social capital as most people have conceived it. People with strong ethnic identifications and who associate primarily with people of their own kind either will withdraw from civic participation or will belong only to organizations made up of their own nationality. People with looser ties to their in-group are more likely to take an active role in the larger society. We show the importance of acculturation on broader dimensions of civic engagement by analyzing a Los Angeles Times survey of ethnic Chinese in Southern California in 1997.

Toward a New Typology of Vetoes and Overrides

This research develops a typology of vetoes and overrides based on the nature of the coalition that originally passed the legislation. We posit that both legislative and non-legislative objectives inform the strategies of the President and congressional leaders. The implications for measures of presidential and congressional power are considerable. Using veto and override data for the period 1969-98, we show that vote-switching between the passage of legislation and veto overrides is likely to occur only for a specific subset of legislation.

Legislative Activity in the Canadian House of Commons: Does Majority or Minority Government Matter?

This study assesses the impact of majority and minority governments on legislative activity in the Canadian House of Commons. The quantitative analysis spans the 22nd to the 40th Parliaments (1953–2009) and examines legislative productivity and success by government type. The analysis of descriptive data confirms that minority governments are somewhat less productive and successful than their majority counterparts. However, the analysis emphasizes significant variation for majority governments. Neither governing context guarantees success or failure as contextual factors largely condition legislative activity.

No Irish Need Apply? Veto Players and Legislative Productivity in the Republic of Ireland, 1949-2000

This analysis fills an important lacuna in comparative legislative studies by testing the veto players theory against a newly constructed data set of significant domestic policy legislation passed in the Republic of Ireland between 1949 and 2000. Distinguishing between single-party majority, coalition, and minority governments, the analysis places into sharp relief the ways in which the unique context of Irish political parties and institutional dynamics conflict with the basic tenets of the veto players framework. The results underscore the contextual constraints on applicability of the theory.

From Elysian Fields to the Guillotine? The Dynamics of Presidential and Prime Ministerial Approval in Fifth Republic France

This article develops an integrative framework for explaining variation in monthly presidential and prime ministerial approval in Fifth Republic France. Melding theories of executive approval in the Anglo-American and French literatures, the empirical model closely examines macroeconomic indicators alongside contextual factors, such as cohabitation, temporal effects, and variables specific to French sociopolitical culture. The study refines prior models by utilizing the autoregressive integrated moving average technique to improve forecast estimates. The study also incorporates new archival data on unemployment to avoid measurement error. The results of the time-series analyses confirm that poor macroeconomic conditions yield larger drops in presidential approval. Similarly, short-term impacts of strikes and “rally effects” are consistently greater for changes in public confidence in the president. The import of time-decay effects and electoral factors varies dramatically for first and sub-sequent prime ministerial appointments.

Legislative Behaviour in the Northern Ireland Assembly, 2007–11: Conflict and Consensus in a Developing Consociational Democracy

While most research has focused on the executive in Northern Ireland, this study examines behavioural dynamics in the legislative assembly by focusing sharply on division votes and the use of procedural mechanisms in the four sessions from 2007 to 2011. By assessing patterns of coalition configurations and employing Pooles ‘Optimal Classification’ method for examining dimensionality on division votes, the analysis explores the basis for the relative consensus and conflict that have marked legislative behaviour in the most recent attempt at power sharing. This research uncovers two essential dimensions to legislative behaviour: a cross-community dimension that diminished over time in advance of the 2011 election, and a more traditional left–right and nationalist–unionist divide. The study accentuates, however, that unionist and nationalist parties do not vote consistently as cohesive, monolithic blocs. The empirical analysis further shows that use of the ‘minority veto’ was sparing and reserved largely for the most controversial issues of importance to each community.

Signing On and Sounding Off: Presidential Signing Statements in the Eisenhower Administration, 1953–61

This article represents an important step in understanding early, modern presidents’ strategic use of signing statements by taking a sharp focus on the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. In contrast to recent presidents who have used the instrument increasingly to challenge legislative provisions, Eisenhowers use of signing statements was rather complex—from political credit-claiming, explaining the provisions of bills to the American public, and reinforcing his views on the federal-state balance of power—to maintaining bipartisan relations on foreign policy, shaping implementation of congressional bills, and selectively criticizing Congress for overspending. The theoretical framework devotes particular attention to the interplay of contexts—electoral, institutional, and economic—on Eisenhowers use of signing statements by policy area across his two terms.

Presidential Influence and Minority Party Liaison on Veto Overrides New Evidence from the Ford Presidency

Prior studies of executive-legislative relations have not adequately examined presidential influence on veto overrides. This research posits that presidential liaison with party leaders in Congress can play a crucial role in forging sustaining coalitions and is an element of presidential skill that has been overlooked. The study examines Gerald Ford’s relations with the 94th Congress and focuses on legislators’ decisions to change positions to sustain the president’s vetoes between the passage of the original legislation and veto override attempts. Archival data are integrated into a multinomial logistic regression analysis of vote-switching by Republican legislators to test the impact of leadership contact on voting decisions. The results emphasize the importance of partisan linkages between the White House and the minority party leadership organization on Capitol Hill as part of Ford’s bicameral strategy to halt veto overrides.

The Consociational Model and Question Time in the Northern Ireland Assembly: Policy Issues, Procedural Reforms and Executive Accountability, 2007–2011

Little is known about comparative innovations in question time procedure in Northern Ireland. This research provides an exploratory analysis of 1,999 oral questions to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, and 31,664 questions posed to other ministers in the four legislative sessions from 2007 to 2011. The theoretical framework focuses on how the practice of parliamentary questions reflects the consociational model of governance taking shape in the Stormont Assembly. The study accentuates a decline in the number of questions posed to the dual executive and other ministers over time – a dynamic that represents a purposeful effort on the part of the Assembly to decrease the number of questions through procedural reform, with the objective of obtaining more substantive answers. The findings also show that parliamentary questions on economic issues increased, but community issues remained a dominant policy concern across time. Finally, the analysis shows substantive responses were the norm among both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Responses by ministers with portfolio were more variable.

Presidential Vision or Congressional Derision? Explaining Budgeting Outcomes for NASA, 1958–2008

This study examines presidential-congressional relations on appropriations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The objective is to examine differences between presidential requests and congressional appropriations for NASA spanning fiscal years 1959–2009. The analysis accentuates NASAs exceptional situation in the budgeting process as an agency without a core social or geographic constituency, the impact of congressional budget reforms, and presidents’ relative inattention to space policy since the agencys inception in 1958. The theoretical basis for the quantitative analysis also draws from perspectives that include domestic economic factors, international contexts, and the congressional electoral cycle. The empirical analysis accentuates the basis for congressional dominance over the agencys funding.