Governors in the Legislative Arena: The Importance of Personality in Shaping Success

Ferguson, Margaret R.; Barth, Jay

doi:10.1111/0162-895x.00307

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…First, scholars should continue to probe the impact of individual influences at the state level. Although we did not find much empirical support for our hypotheses, other research approaches, such as cross-sectional analyses of the impact of gubernatorial personality (Ferguson and Barth 2002), may prove more fruitful. 25 A second avenue for future research is to distinguish among the types of vetoes issued by governors.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 73%

Why Do Governors Issue Vetoes? The Impact of Individual and Institutional Influences

Klarner

Karch

2008

Political Research Quarterly

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Studies of presidential veto use advance two competing theoretical perspectives: the "president-centered" approach and the "presidency-centered" approach. We assess the applicability of these approaches to gubernatorial veto activity. Our analysis of forty-eight states between 1971 and 2002 provides strong support for the institutional perspective and less support for the individual perspective. The governor's formal powers, the partisan alignment of the legislature, and the electoral cycle all contribute to veto activity. The results suggest that conflict between the legislature and the governor is a product of systematic forces and that governors who face similar institutional constraints will behave in similar ways.T he American political system distributes institutional authority to a wide array of actors. At the national level, nothing better illustrates this complex interaction than the relationship between Congress and the president. Each institution possesses prerogatives that infringe on the primary domain of the other and can foster conflict. The presidential veto power is a good example. Use of the veto is an especially important instance of direct conflict between the legislature and the chief executive and therefore ranks among the most potent powers that the chief executive has at his or her disposal. Examining the root causes of veto activity provides scholars with a deeper understanding of interbranch conflict in the American political system and sheds light on questions of institutional design, power, and decision-making authority.Presidential vetoes have received considerable scholarly attention. In attempting to explain why presidents veto legislation, political scientists advance two contrasting theoretical approaches. The first is the "president-centered" approach, which stresses the importance of "individual behavior as an influence on veto behavior" (Gilmour 2002, 199). The president-centered approach highlights the personality traits and veto strategies of individual presidents as key precipitating factors. The second theoretical perspective is the "presidency-centered" approach, which emphasizes the "institutional structures and societal conditions that constrain presidential behavior" (Shields and Huang 1997, 436). This approach emphasizes factors such as minority party opposition and the electoral cycle. Recent studies of presidential vetoes (Gilmour 2002) and of presidential behavior more generally (Hager and Sullivan 1994) provide empirical support for both the president-and presidency-centered perspectives.This article assesses the applicability of these competing perspectives in the context of the fifty American states, examining the impact of individual and institutional factors on governors' veto activity. By examining gubernatorial veto use, this article assesses the external validity of existing research on presidential veto behavior. The fifty states represent an ideal venue in which to analyze political phenomena, including the relationship between the legislature and the exec...

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 73%

Why Do Governors Issue Vetoes? The Impact of Individual and Institutional Influences

Klarner

Karch

2008

Political Research Quarterly

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“…1980;Winter. 2002) but also to positive impressions of their ser vice and significant achievements (Ferguson & Barth, 2002;Winter. 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How personalized and socialized power motivation facilitate antisocial and prosocial decision-making

Magee

Langner

2008

Journal of Research in Personality

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ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACTIn two studies. we investigate the effects of individuals' power motivation on decision Keywords: making. We distinguish between two types of power motivation [McClelland. D. C. In separating out the independent effects of each type of power motivation. we are able to explain more variance in decision-making behavior across various contexts than in models using aggregate power motivation (personalized plus socialized). Power motive Motivation

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“…Earlier studies commonly analyzed the content of text documents by hand with human coders quantitating text into data. Documents were coded based on the number of sentences devoted to a topic (Heidbreder 2012; Heidbreder and Scheurer 2013) or the topic structure was simply assumed based on the reading of the document (Ferguson 2003; Ferguson and Barth 2003). This is a time‐consuming approach that is also prone to errors.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gubernatorial Policy Priorities and State Fiscal Outcomes

Ivonchyk

2020

Politics & Policy

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This study tests the effect of gubernatorial policy agendas on state budgetary choices. Governors are commonly perceived as state policy leaders, but lack direct legislative authority and depend on the law makers to pass bills and present them for signature. The theory posits that governors nonetheless possess several formal and informal tools that are used to overcome this institutional disadvantage and successfully pursue their policy goals. Gubernatorial policy priorities in this study are extracted from public speeches using unsupervised machine learning. Their influence on state spending choices in different policy areas is tested through panel data analysis of all states from 2007 through 2015. Empirical findings reveal that the effect of executive agendas is more pronounced in the area of transportation infrastructure and public safety—potentially due to lower levels of conflict and concentrated benefits, which eases deal making with law makers. Governors are also more persistent with policy proposals that are more important for reelection. Related Articles Adams, Brian E. 2016. “Assessing the Merits of Decentralization: A Framework for Identifying the Causal Mechanisms Influencing Policy Outcomes.” Politics & Policy 44 (5): 820‐849. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12172 Heidbreder, Brianne. 2012. “Agenda Setting in the States: How Politics and Policy Needs Shape Gubernatorial Agendas.” Politics & Policy 40 (2): 296‐319. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00345.x Patrick, Barbara. 2012. “Fiscal Federalism, Performance Policies, and Education Reforms: Are States Using Performance Policies to Improve Workforce Quality?” Politics & Policy 40 (4): 593‐628. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00370.x

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Governors in the Legislative Arena: The Importance of Personality in Shaping Success

Cited by 13 publications

References 23 publications

Why Do Governors Issue Vetoes? The Impact of Individual and Institutional Influences

Why Do Governors Issue Vetoes? The Impact of Individual and Institutional Influences

How personalized and socialized power motivation facilitate antisocial and prosocial decision-making

Gubernatorial Policy Priorities and State Fiscal Outcomes

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