Dilemmas of Party Leadership: Majority Whips in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1962-1982

This article examines party leadership in the context of personal ambition, institutional commitments and the representative's dilemma of choosing between a national vs. local perspective. The research focus is on the careers of five recent House Democratic party leaders and their tenure as appointed majority whips. From these case studies the whip, who occupies the third-ranking leadership post in the House, appears as an emerging leader who must develop strategies to enable him to balance a series of contradictory expectations: loyalty to leadership vs. self-promotion, service to the rank and file vs. policy impact, and support for national party positions vs. district preferences.     

Representational Styles in the U.S. House of Representatives

This paper attempts to explicate and test the assumptions underlying typologies of legislative behavior. Quantitative data on a wide range of behaviors of 150 House members are used to produce a typology of styles of congressional behavior and to test two related theories of congressional behavior. Cluster analylsis reveals four distinct types of representatives: (1) activists, who are fairly extreme ideologically, highly active and highly visible, (2) backbenchers, who are inactive across all dimensions of behavior sampled here, (3) ingratiators, who are highly constituency-oriented, active in the solicitation and exploitation of casework, and very moderate ideologically, and (4) ideologues, who are moderate in their general level of activism, and rather extreme ideologically. Individual electoral threat is a weak determinant of the style a representative will adopt. Years of seniority within the institution and the political culture of the home district have major effects.     

Electoral and Partisan Forces in the Roosevelt Era: The U.S. Congressional Elections of 1938

Since nearly all studies of U.S. congressional elections test competing theories with data from the postwar era, we know very little about the applicability of contemporary theories to elections in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This paper takes a first step in exploring theories of electoral politics in the historical context of the 1938 elections. I believe a closer look at this particular election is valuable for a variety of reasons. First, turnover among incumbents in 1938 was extremely high by contemporary standards, yet no systematic explanation for the record number of losses exists. Additionally, this political era was characterized by intense polarization between Congress and the president even though the Democrats controlled both institutions. An extended analysis of this historical era can also explore the role strategic challengers played in the electoral arena before the emergence of candidate-centered elections. By exploring these significant events, I shed light on an otherwise neglected aspect of American political development.     

Birth control and the fertility of the U. S. Black population, 1880 to 1980

Black fertility in the U. S. declined sharply in the latter part of the 19th century and continued declining up to 1940. Common expert opinion has held that this decline in fertility was not attributable to an increase in birth control practice. Instead, experts hypothesized that the fertility decline was due almost entirely to deleterious changes in health factors among blacks. The health hypothesis is faulty because those black groups with socioeconomic advantages most conducive to good health were the very groups with the lowest fertility rates. A number of recent fertility studies seem to show fairly widespread use of birth control among blacks during the 60 years up to 1940. This widespread use did not increase precipitously in the 1930s but grew gradually over the previous 1/2 century. Knowledge and acceptance levels of birth control were also high during those years among blacks. Similarly, the experts' beliefs that birth control, even if practiced among blacks, did not have much effect on black fertility because "infective" methods were used, birth control was not practiced "effectively," and blacks started birth control practice too late in their reproductive lives have been shown by studies to have no empirical bases.     

美国对奥地利政策的演变(1945-1955年)

第二次世界大战结束以后 ,美国对奥地利政策偏离了《莫斯科宣言》的方向 ,将奥地利作为被盟国解放的国家 ,反对追究奥地利的战争责任 ,极力推动奥地利的经济复兴和国内秩序稳定。美国国家安全委员会第 38 4号文件和第 1 6 4 1号文件乃是美国对奥地利政策的重要纲领。美国以奥地利只能向苏联支付实物赔偿和武装中立为条件 ,同意签署《奥地利国家条约》。促进奥地利的亲西方倾向 ,成为美国对奥地利政策的长期目标与重要特点。     

Electoral Messages from the District: Explaining Presidential Support in the U.S. House of Representatives

Legislators are highly sensitive to those parts of their reelection constituencies whose support is least solid. Therefore, out-party members of Congress should be more supportive of the opposing party's president when that president enjoys greater electoral support among the legislators' reelection constituencies. This hypothesis is tested in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 1980s and 1990s. The hypothesis is supported, even with controls for the ideology of the member and the political orientation of the district. The findings suggest legislators have a sophisticated view of their districts and perceive electoral messages from the voting patterns of their constituents. The results also imply that presidential success is conditioned by the forces that operate in the congressional election context.     

Party Leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives: Making Theoretical Sense of Ambition and Context

This article focuses on the policy-making activities of House Republicans in their early transition to power (104th Congress) as well as in their settling in (105th Congress). Key components of House governance, as practiced by the Democrats in the 103rd Congress, serve as a benchmark for comparison. The analysis reveals substantial differences between the size, scope, and thrust of the leaders' issue agendas. Over time, decision-making apparatus and strategies for building floor coalitions and publicizing party views vary as well. Using data from interviews with the principals and a host of sources from the government and the media, I find evidence that draws attention to the power of personal ambitions and political contexts.     

Negotiating National Identity: A Reexamination of U.S.-Philippines Relations

Nick Cullather. Illusions of Influence: The Political Economy of United States-Philippines Relations, 1942–1960 .     

美国“地区研究”兴起的历史考察

太平洋战争爆发后,特别是冷战初期,美国联邦政府、三大私人基金会以及相当一部分学者逐渐意识到深入了解非西方世界对维护国家安全的重要性,着手共同推动"地区研究"。联邦政府、私人基金会和学者三位一体体制运作的结果是复杂的:地区研究在迅速成长为一门显学的同时也不可避免地在很大程度上沦为政治的附庸;在满足了国家对地区专家和知识需求的同时也为一些地区研究者挑战美国对非西方世界的政策创造了条件。就美国地区研究兴起与国家安全考虑的密切关系而言,政治没有给学术留出太多独立生存的空间,而知识分子本身也并非都希望远离政治,学术与政治难以彻底分离。     

1941至1942年波兰军队在苏联的组建与撤离

希特勒对苏联发动的进攻,改变了这场战争的意义和关系,也为苏联领土上波兰军队的组建创造了条件。这支波兰军队组建和最终撤出苏境内的艰难历程,折射出苏德战争开始前后,苏英波三国之间既相互协作,又隐含着矛盾与斗争的关系。