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SOURCES OF STRUCTURE IN CONGRESSIONAL BEHAVIOR: THE INFLUENCE OF IDEOLOGY ON FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY VOTES
Author(s) -
Sulfaro Valerie A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2000.tb00568.x
Subject(s) - ideology , voting , political science , foreign policy , voting behavior , political economy , dimension (graph theory) , public administration , law , economics , politics , mathematics , pure mathematics
Some researchers claim that different issues are dominated by different congressional voting patterns. Others argue that a single ideological dimension is sufficient to characterize votes on most issues. This analysis compares foreign and domestic policy votes in the U.S. Senate. The results show that the determinants of Senate voting behavior are very similar for both foreign and domestic policy issues. Ideology has strong direct and indirect effects, constituent influence plays a secondary, more indirect role, and partisanship is a minor influence for issues of domestic policy only. Overall, the expectations of the unidimensional, ideological model of congressional behavior are borne out, while pluralist explanations receive little support.