DSpace

Archive.uky.edu

 

Archive.uky.edu >
The Graduate School (ETDs) >
Electronic Theses and Dissertations >

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10225/525

Title: ADVERSITY POLITICS: THE EFFECT OF STRUCTURE AND IDEOLOGY ON AMERICAN POLITCAL OUTCOMES
Authors: Fine, Jeffrey Allen
Keywords: [none provided]
Date Created: 2006
Publisher: University of Kentucky
Abstract: Divided government has been studied at length in the political science literature, much of which has focused on the effect of this phenomenon on various legislative outcomes. Despite this high level of attention, the literature has employed a narrow definition of divided government that equates the phenomenon with divided party control. This dissertation demonstrates that divided government is comprised of several distinct components, of which party control is only part. To determine whether government is truly divided, one must include measures of both party (party control and the strength of party majorities) and ideology (in terms of the ideological distance between the president and Congress). When previous studies of divided government are re-examined using these more appropriate measures of the components of divided government, it is clear that both party and ideology drive legislative outcomes. This dissertation demonstrates that divided government is a much more complex political phenomenon. Furthermore, this research suggests that the presidential-congressional relationship may be less adverse during periods of divided party control than periods of unified party control. This underscores the need to include measures that capture the components of divided government in future studies on related topics.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10225/525
Appears in Collections:Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Files in This Item:

File SizeFormat
Fine2006.pdf356KbAdobe PDFView/Open


This item is protected by original copyright

Items in the archive are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

 

DSpace Software Copyright © 2002-2007 MIT and Hewlett-Packard - Feedback