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2 books match the query 'Sievert, Joel'

cover of Electoral Incentives in Congress

Electoral Incentives in Congress

Jamie L. Carson and Joel Sievert

University of Michigan Press, 2018

David Mayhew’s 1974 thesis on the “electoral connection” and its impact on legislative behavior is the theoretical foundation for research on the modern U.S. Congress. Mayhew contends that once in office, legislators pursue the actions that put them in the best position for reelection. Carson and Sievert examine how electoral incentives shaped legislative behavior throughout the nineteenth century by looking at patterns of turnover in Congress; the renomination of candidates; the roles of parties in recruiting candidates and their broader effects on candidate competition; and, finally by examining legislators’ accountability. The results have wide-ranging implications for the evolution of Congress and the development of legislative institutions over time.
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cover of The Less Responsive Chamber?: Politics and Development in the Early US Senate

The Less Responsive Chamber?

Politics and Development in the Early US Senate

Joel Sievert

University of Michigan Press, 2027

Who did members of the early US Senate represent? Many scholarly and popular political accounts of the Antebellum era assume that senators were exclusively representatives of the state governments because pre-reform senators were chosen by state legislatures. However, The Less Responsive Chamber? examines senators’ relationships with three potential targets of representation—the state governments, the state legislature, and the electorate of the state.

Through both empirical analyses and detailed case studies, the book demonstrates that senators cared about the public and did not strictly view their representational role as one of being faithful agents to state governments. While senators’ floor speeches, circulars, and correspondences frequently referenced the state electorate as their primary constituency, they were often directed to represent a variety of interests. Further, senators were aware of and responded to public opinion as well as intrastate political dynamics. By documenting how the interests of political parties, states, and the public influenced the Senate’s behavior during the early years of the United States, this book offers insight into a period whose fraught politics continue to impact our lives today.

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