Oct 01, 2014 By Craig VoldenAlan E. Wiseman, Vanderbilt UniversityDana E. Wittmer, Colorado College Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress: The Lawmakers This book explores why some members of Congress are more effective than others at navigating the legislative process and what this means for how Congress is organized and what policies it produces. Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman develop a new metric of individual legislator effectiveness (the Legislative Effectiveness Score) that will be of interest to scholars, voters, and politicians alike. They use these scores to study party influence in Congress, the successes or failures of women and African Americans in Congress, policy gridlock, and the specific strategies that lawmakers employ to advance their agendas. Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press Craig Volden Craig Volden is a professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia, with appointments in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Department of Politics. He studies the politics of public policy, with a focus on what policy choices arise within legislative institutions and within American federalism. He is founder and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking. Read full bio Alan E. Wiseman, Vanderbilt University Dana E. Wittmer, Colorado College Related Content Craig Volden Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success Research Are effective state lawmakers more likely than ineffective state lawmakers to be elected to Congress? Our findings offer important insights into how American federalism contributes to representation by effective lawmakers. The Primary Path for Turning Legislative Effectiveness into Electoral Success Research Effective lawmakers are the workhorses of the US Congress, yet we know little about the electoral payoffs of their efforts. Are effective lawmakers better at warding off challengers in the next election? Do they win at a greater rate? How Effective are America’s State Legislators? News The Center for Effective Lawmaking has compiled a massive database to measure the effectiveness of nearly every state legislator in the U.S. Based on the center's trusted methodology developed a decade ago to rank the effectiveness of members of Congress, the project is the first to collect this kind of data at the state level in a comprehensive fashion. Batten Hosts Back-to-Back Political Science Conferences News The UVA Batten School is excited to co-host the national State Politics and Policy Conference this weekend, bringing together some 140 political science researchers from across the country to share their recent findings on a wide range of topics. Immediately following, Batten hosts the annual conference of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint project with Vanderbilt University.
Craig Volden Craig Volden is a professor of public policy and politics at the University of Virginia, with appointments in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Department of Politics. He studies the politics of public policy, with a focus on what policy choices arise within legislative institutions and within American federalism. He is founder and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking. Read full bio
Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success Research Are effective state lawmakers more likely than ineffective state lawmakers to be elected to Congress? Our findings offer important insights into how American federalism contributes to representation by effective lawmakers.
The Primary Path for Turning Legislative Effectiveness into Electoral Success Research Effective lawmakers are the workhorses of the US Congress, yet we know little about the electoral payoffs of their efforts. Are effective lawmakers better at warding off challengers in the next election? Do they win at a greater rate?
How Effective are America’s State Legislators? News The Center for Effective Lawmaking has compiled a massive database to measure the effectiveness of nearly every state legislator in the U.S. Based on the center's trusted methodology developed a decade ago to rank the effectiveness of members of Congress, the project is the first to collect this kind of data at the state level in a comprehensive fashion.
Batten Hosts Back-to-Back Political Science Conferences News The UVA Batten School is excited to co-host the national State Politics and Policy Conference this weekend, bringing together some 140 political science researchers from across the country to share their recent findings on a wide range of topics. Immediately following, Batten hosts the annual conference of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint project with Vanderbilt University.