This paper offers a study of Bell's earlier career in the House from 1827 to 1841.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / From the Well of the House analyzes the remaking of the House Republican Party into an aggressive, partisan organization. It explores how a new generation of Representatives elected after 1978 transformed the GOP, instituting a style of congressional politics that favored confrontation, media spectacle, and personal scandal. Following key actors, including Newt Gingrich, Bob Walker, Vin Weber, and the Conservative Opportunity Society, this dissertation explores key events and illustrates how the House Republican Conference changed from passive acceptance of their minority status to pugnacious fighters for the majority. Throughout their careers Gingrich and his Congressional allies promoted a style of politics in the House, first as backbenchers then from leadership positions, which advocated conflict and attack. They showed that aggression was a winning strategy and other Congressmen followed their lead. By examining in depth events that led the House Republican Conference to adopt a more confrontational stance, including the formation of the Conservative Opportunity Society, the use ofC-SPAN as an effective political weapon, the House Bank scandal, and conflicts with Speakers Tip O'Neill and Jim Wright and Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, this dissertation demonstrates that the 1994 Republican Revolution was the product of more than a decade of dedication and hard work. While numerous scholars have analyzed the rise ofthe New Right and the conservative ascendancy in American politics after the 1970s, From the Well of the House breaks new ground by exploring this shift in the arena of Congressional politics. In so doing, it both elucidates the deep background of the House Republican Party's successful efforts to become a majority and establishes the significance of Congress in the transformation of recent American politics. / 2031-01-02

Better understanding the relationship between the results for the U.S. House of Representatives and for state executive offices could potentially be useful in predicting outcomes if a significant relationship is present and if one has more information about either the election for the U.S. House of Representatives candidate or the state executive office candidate. To better understand this relationship, election results were analyzed using regression models for three upper Midwest states - Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota - to compare the outcomes of the state executive office elections and the U.S. House of Representative elections. Additionally, median income was included in the models to see if this affected the relationship. Each state had a statistically significant relationship between the results of the state executive offices and the U.S. House of Representatives. Median income either was not statistically significant or not practically significant in overall effect on the relationship.

Scholars and political candidates have frequently viewed online political participation as a weaker and less meaningful form of political involvement than traditional, offline activities. This thesis presents an overview of the literature on political participation and the Internet in order to understand the origins of this view and why participation on social media may be uniquely meaningful in comparison with other Internet-based activities. Examination of social media using Resource Theory and Social Identity Theory justify this unique status by highlighting and rationalizing social media's exceptional capacity to build and maintain weak-tie networks while also generating an intimacy between constituents and candidates. Social Identity Theory also provides an argument for the potential of social media for reaching and mobilizing first-time participants through its capacity to passively reach and attract constituents for non-political, personal and identity-serving reasons. This thesis then shows how social media-enable first-time participants may be more inclined to continue and expanding their participation over time, thereby substantially affecting participation trends in the United States. Using case studies composed of qualitative data collected on candidate views of the Internet and social media in U.S. House campaigns, this thesis examines the state of Web campaigning in 2010 in comparison to the theoretically "archetypal" Web campaign in order to provide indications of whether the prescribed theoretical activities deliver meaningful citizen engagement and valuable returns to campaigns. / Master of Arts

At the outset of my studies, my goal was to look at women's role in the United States Federal Government. The study was to span from the inception of the United States Government to the present. The purpose of the study was to highlight the large gender gap in the United States Government. However, I soon found there to be an overwhelming amount of material to discuss. Realizing the limited amount of space I had to fit my findings, I narrowed the topic to women's role in the United States House of Representatives. Even with this narrowed scope, the gender gap in representation is obvious, and highlights the fact that America, even in the 21st Century, is not truly equal. The reason I mention the gender gap in the United States House of Representatives is not simply to dwell on the fact that one exists, but to discuss how and why it has remained a structural characteristic of the legislative body that is intended to be the closest to the people. In order to find answers to the questions aforementioned, it is necessary to discuss the evolution of ideals, principles, and beliefs possessed by the American population from 1776 to today. Even if there are no definitive answers to the questions posed above, it is my hope that the discussion will highlight the pivotal role of women in all stages of the United States' existence, and underline the importance of women's participation in the United States House of Representatives.

No description available.

Given that the basic functions of parliamentary Question Time are to provide information and to hold the Government accountable for its actions, the possibility of evasion occurring in such a context is of crucial importance. Evasion (equivocation) has been identified as a matter of concern in political interviews, but no systematic study has been undertaken in the context of parliamentary discourse, notably Question Time, anywhere in the world. This study applies and adapts Harris's (1991) coding framework on various types of responses, Bull and Mayer's (1993) typology of non-replies and Clayman's (2001) work on how politicians 'resist' answering questions, all of which are based on political news interviews, to the study of evasion in Australia's House of Representatives' Question Time. A comprehensive, unified framework for the analysis of evasion is described, a decision flow-chart for the framework is provided, and an illustrative example of the applied framework is given based on Australia's Federal House of Representatives' Question Time. Put simply, the study was undertaken to determine if evasion occurred, how frequently it occurred and how it occurred. It involved the classification of responses as 'answers' (direct or indirect), 'intermediate responses' (such as pointing out incorrect information in the question), and 'evasions' based on specific criteria. Responses which were considered evasions were further analysed to determine the levels of evasion, whether they were covert or overt in nature and the types of 'agenda shifts' that occurred, if any. The thesis also involved a discourse-analytical study of other factors that appear to facilitate Ministerial evasion in Australia's House of Representatives, including the Speaker's performance and the use of 'Dorothy Dixers'. The research data was sourced from Question Time transcripts from the House of Representatives Hansard for the months of February and March 2003, dealing only with questions and responses on the topic of Iraq. In those months there were 87 questions on the topic of Iraq, representing more than two thirds of all questions on Iraq for the whole of 2003. Of these 87 questions, the majority (48) came from the Opposition party, through its leader. The balance (39) was asked by Government MPs. Analysis of the question/answer discourse for all 87 questions revealed that every question asked by Government members was answered compared to only 8 of the 48 Opposition questions. Of the 40 remaining Opposition questions, 21 were given intermediate responses and 19 were evaded outright. The fact that the overwhelming majority (83%) of Opposition questions were not answered together with other findings such as instances of partiality on the part of the Speaker; the use of 'friendly', prearranged questions by Government MPs; and the 'hostile' nature of questions asked by Opposition MPs casts serious doubt on the effectiveness of Question Time as a means of ensuring the Government is held accountable for its actions. The study provides empirical evidence that evasion does occur in Australia's House of Representatives' Question Time.

A literatura focada na Primeira República brasileira (1891-1930) normalmente considera o parlamento desprovido de poder político porque enquadra neste período o marco do acordo firmado entre o presidente Campos Sales e os governadores estaduais para impedir a eleição das oposições no Legislativo Federal. Uma tese até hoje consolidada na historiografia política e que em geral tributa o desfecho autoritário daquele regime à cristalização dos efeitos do referido pacto, mais conhecido como politica dos governadores. O presente trabalho investiga a suposta passividade dos parlamentares eleitos de 1900 em diante através do exame da composição partidária do Congresso Nacional e comportamento legislativo dos representantes em algumas questões cruciais valendo-se do estudo da Câmara dos Deputados. A hipótese de pesquisa parte do entendimento clássico e assume que a Casa não constituía uma importante arena decisória para se construir consenso, garantido de antemão. Contraintuitivos, os resultados mostram que as bancadas estaduais empossadas nas onze legislaturas abertas entre 1900 e 1930 tenderam majoritariamente ao unipartidarismo, mas nem por isso agiram de modo unânime, coeso e subserviente à orientação do governo, havendo espaço para obstrução e eventuais derrotas amargadas pelo Poder Executivo. Definitivamente, o parlamento não gozava de status marginal no regime como frequentemente se alega, mas configurava um foro de negociação central para a governabilidade. / The literature on the Brazilian First Republic (1891-1930) usually claims that the parliament lacked political power, due to an agreement made between President Campos Sales and state governors that prevented the oppositions from gaining representation in the federal legislature. A well-known thesis in the political historiography links the authoritarian nature of the regime to the effects of that pact, known as politics of governors. This dissertation assesses the supposed passivity of parliamentarians elected from 1900 on, by analyzing the party composition of the national Congress and the legislative behavior of representatives in some crucial issues, based on the study of the Chamber of Deputies. The research hypothesis is rooted on the classic interpretation and assumes that the House did not constitute an important decision-making arena for building consensuses, which were guaranteed beforehand. The results of the analyses reported in this dissertation are counterintuitive and show that the state benches of the eleven legislatures between 1900 and 1930 tended to be single-party, but did not act with unanimity, cohesion and subordination to the recommendations of the government, giving room to obstructions and defeats of the Executive. Definitely, the parliament was not a marginal player in the regime as is frequently claimed, but was rather a forum for negotiations with important consequences for governability.

This thesis seeks to contribute to the literature by studying the impact of a legislators gender on health and public security policies passed in the Brazilian Congress and whether such policies are aligned with voters preferences. Evidences have shown that women face stronger barriers to being elected as compared to their male counterparts (Lawless 2015; Speck and Mancuso 2014) and they face a complex and demanding electoral playing field when running for re-election (Palmer and Simon, 2010). My hypothesis is that female politicians need to establish their credibility by proposing public policies in masculine areas, such as public security. Once a congresswoman has political experience, as a mayor, state deputy or another office, she risks making policy more aligned with female voter preferences. Using data from a national survey and a low-income voter survey, I analyze whether male and female Brazilian voters differ in the priority they assign to health and security policies. This enables me to predict what effects gender representation should have on health and public security policy choices. Then, I examine the differences in the types of health and public security budget amendments sponsored by male and female legislators. Finally, I analyze the impact of a politicians gender conditional on experience in politics. With these results, I compare the preferences and priorities of male and female voters with the representatives priorities and see if they correspond. Employing logistic regressions, the voter surveys analyses show that female voters do not present different policy preferences than male voters. Moreover, the results of the budget amendments analysis using linear regressions suggest that (i) female deputies do not focus more on health policy than their male counterparts, and (ii) female deputies that are professional politicians allocate less resource for security policy than male professional deputies. / Esta dissertação busca contribuir com a literatura estudando o impacto do sexo do deputado nas políticas públicas de saúde e segurança aprovadas no Congresso brasileiro, e se tais políticas estão alinhadas com as preferências dos eleitores. A literatura tem mostrado que mulheres enfrentam fortes barreiras para serem eleitas se comparado aos homens (Lawless 2015; Speck e Mancuso 2014) e elas também enfrentam um complexo e exigente jogo eleitoral quando concorrem à reeleição (Palmer e Simon 2010). Minha hipótese é de que deputadas precisam estabelecer sua credibilidade propondo políticas públicas em áreas masculinas, tal como segurança pública. Uma vez que a deputada tenha experiência política, como prefeita, deputada federal ou um outro cargo político, ela se arriscará fazendo política mais alinhada com as preferências das eleitoras. Utilizando dados de um survey nacional e de um survey com eleitores de baixa renda, eu analiso se as eleitoras e os eleitores brasileiros apresentam diferentes prioridades com relação a políticas de saúde e de segurança. Com esses resultados, eu posso predizer quais os efeitos a representação de homens e mulheres deveria ter sobre a escolha de políticas públicas de saúde e segurança. Então, eu analiso as diferenças nos tipos de emendas orçamentárias de saúde e de segurança que são propostas pelos deputados e deputadas. Finalmente, eu analiso o impacto do sexo do parlamentar condicional à experiência na política. Com estes resultados, eu comparo as preferências e prioridades de eleitores e eleitoras com as prioridades dos parlamentares e vejo se elas correspondem. Empregando regressão logística, a análise dos surveys mostra que eleitoras não apresentam diferentes preferências políticas que os eleitores. Além disso, os resultados da análise das emendas orçamentárias utilizando regressão linear sugere que (i) deputadas não priorizam política de saúde mais que seus colegas o fazem; e (ii) deputadas que são políticas profissionais alocam menos recursos para política de segurança do que fazem os deputados profissionais.

This diploma thesis focuses on challengers' success in the US House of Representatives elections in a selected group of states during the time period 2000-2010. It deals with the context of the American party system and describes the framework of electoral politics and campaigns. Specific position of incumbents in the elections and the incumbency advantage are taken into account as well. Aim of this work is to determine whether and how particular dominance (or absence of a dominant position) of political party in the electoral districts influences challengers' chances to be elected. Electoral districts are divided into two groups according to the presidential election results of 2000, 2004 and 2008. First, there are districts where one party has a dominant voters' support and candidates of that party are safe in the elections. Second, there are districts where neither party has a dominant position. After analysing the House election results 2000-2010 from the perspective of successfully elected challengers, the diploma thesis concludes that when the district was (according to specified criteria) safe for one party, challenger of the other party had no chance of being elected.