A House Divided? Roll Calls, Polarization, and Policy Differences in the U.S. House, 1877-2011

摘要: The study of political conflict in legislatures is fundamental to understanding the nature governance, but also difficult because changes membership and issues addressed over time. Focusing on enduring issue civil rights United States since Reconstruction, we show that using current methods measures characterize elite ideological disagreements makes it hard interpret or reconcile conflicts with historical understandings their failure adequately account for policies being voted upon consequences iterative lawmaking process. Incorporating information about provides a starkly different portrait conflict—not only are contemporary parties relatively less divided than commonly thought, occurs smaller, more liberal, portion policy space. These findings have important implications broad range work uses actions compare conflict/polarization across