Influences shaping members' decision making: Congressional voting on the Persian Gulf War

Methods and Rules of Voting and Decision: A Literature Review

“…Drawing on data gathered from interviews with 365congressional staff people, Burgin finds three influences in particular stand out as significant in the decision-making process of US strategy in the Persian Gulf in January 1991: members' own policy views, supportive constituents, and (for certain groups of members) the president. Thus, while the analysis confirms, the conventional view of legislators' personal policy assessments as the critical influence on foreign and defense policy votes, it also underscores that this influence does not operate in a vacuum [30].…”

Shaping the Congressional Debate on the Gulf War

“…Concomitantly, Burgin (1994) argues that the most important factor in members' voting decisions on the Gulf War was personal ideology. Despite the widespread reliance on an ideologically based explanation of legislative behavior, in all legislative votes, and in the Gulf War vote in particular, there are many members who defy their expected ideological position.…”

Presidents, Legislators, and Foreign Policy in Latin America

“…Instead of legislatures or political parties delegating power to executives, increased polarisation in legislatures would strongly influence the foreign policy-making process (Fleisher et al 2000). Scholars argue that domestic factors such as partisan disputes, constituency preferences (Hiscox 2002;Henisz and Mansfield 2006), interest groups (Fordham and McKeown 2003), and public scrutiny (Burgin 1994) play a central role in Congressional votes on American foreign policy.…”