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A Call for Papers Second Annual Conference on
State Politics and Policy: Co-Sponsored by University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and State Politics and Policy Quarterly The Conference Second Annual Conference on State Politics and Policy: Legislatures and Representation in the U.S. States On May 24-25, 2002, the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and State Politics and Policy Quarterly will co-sponsor a conference on the study of legislatures and representation in the U.S. states. The conference, to be held at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, welcomes participation by all social scientists interested in state politics and policy, especially members of the organized section on State Politics and Policy-Making of the American Political Science Association. A stipend will be awarded to paper-givers to cover a major portion of their expenses for the conference. The focus of this conference will be on studying general questions related to legislatures and representation broadly speaking in the context of the U.S. states. Thus, any research question relating to political behavior and policy-making by state legislatures would be appropriate for a paper proposal. Topics that connect state legislatures with other state institutions would also be welcome. Since state legislatures are a central institution in state policy-making, topics that focus on the various aspects of state policy-making are particularly welcome. Call for Papers The conference sponsors will give preference to including proposals for the conference on any of the following suggested topics: What are the impacts of legislative policy on other governmental institutions such as the executive, bureaucracy and the courts? We know precious little about the intended and unintended impacts of public policies on other institutions. The states provide a natural laboratory to assess this difficult question. The recent trend toward policy devolution in the U.S. has enhanced both the substantive importance of this question and methodological advantages of the states in addressing it. Devolution has led to more variation among the states on the independent variable (policy), greater normative concerns of policy equity, and a greater variety of policy tools being tried and in need of assessment. Do legislative institutions matter? The states spent the last third of the 20th century reforming their legislative institutions in a variety of ways. There has been copious polemic argument about the wisdom of these reforms, but little hard evidence about their impacts. Paralleling this series of reforms has been the redevelopment of theoretical interest in the impact on institutions on the political process. The recent legislative institutional reforms in the states provide a unique arena both to test theoretical expectations and to assess the substantive implications of these reforms. How well does state legislative policy reflect public opinion in a democratic society? This central question of democratic theory has proven particularly difficult to answer empirically, primarily due to difficulties in assessing public opinion and locating variation in it among comparable polities. But better measures of public opinion and values in the states and increasing policy variation among them have led to a spate of recent work using the states to make headway on this question. We may be on the verge of being able to unravel the subtleties of the representation process using the state politics venue. Can one cure the numerous pathologies of the representation process? Scholars who study the representation process in the states have identified a number of pathologies that undermine the respect of the public for the state legislative institution. Contesting for state legislative seats is declining and marginal constituencies are vanishing. Similar concerns are concerned about the regulation of campaign finance practices, the regulation of ethics, and the regulation of lobbyists. What can be done to cure these pathologies and to restore the confidence of the public in the state legislative representation process. Where should the field of state legislatures and representation go from here? The study of state legislatures and representation has been a mainstay of the discipline historically, and after perhaps a lag in interest in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the 1990’s saw a renewed interest in studying legislative politics and representation using the states. The substantive importance of the states has been enhanced, as have the methodological tools with which we can study them. The beginning of a new decade may be an advantageous time to pause and reflect on where we have been and where we are going, in the specific sub-field of legislative behavior and representation. Proposals Proposals should outline the research questions to be addressed by the paper, explain their importance, and lay out the proposed method of answering each question, and should be no more than two pages. The conference organizers are happy to field any inquiries prior to the submission of a proposal. All proposals must be received by OCTOBER 1, 2001 to receive full consideration. Send proposals and inquiries to: Ronald E. Weber |
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