State Assemblies Research Articles

Primitive Accumulation

Nearly every free American who lived through the recession of the 1780s blamed it, in part, on the thirteen state governments. However, two main camps staked out diametrically-opposed positions on what precisely the states had done wrong. James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and many of the other men who went on to write the United States Constitution believed the states had damaged the economy by caving in to farmers' demands for tax-reduction and debt-mitigation measures that brought temporary relief while wreaking long-term havoc. They believed the excessively-democratic state assemblies had bungled their way into a vivid demonstration of the perils of popular rule. On the other hand, thousands of other Americans contended that the assemblies had undercut farmers' productive capacity with stringent monetary policies and predatory taxes. They blamed the recession on elite, not popular, misrule. This debate is important if only because the elitist analysis associated with men like Hamilton and Madison became the basis for the adoption of the Constitution.

2004 and 2008 General Elections in Malaysia: Towards a Multicultural, Bi-party Political System?

The Barisan Nasional (BN), which won a landslide victory in 2004, was returned to power in the 2008 elections with reduced majority and the loss of five state assemblies. Dissatisfied with unfulfilled promises, the electorate protested by voting for a strong opposition. BN was additionally characterized by factionalism. Three major opposition parties joined hands on a platform of multiculturalism and, using alternative media, unexpectedly, won 82 seats in the parliament. A strong responsible opposition bodes well for multiculturalism and Malaysian democracy.

2008 General Elections in Malaysia: Democracy at Work

AbstractThe Barisan Nasional (BN) which won a landslide in 2004 was returned to power in 2008 elections with reduced majority and the loss of five state assemblies. Dissatisfied with unfulfilled promises, the electorate protested by voting for a strong opposition. BN additionally was characterized by factionalism. Three opposition parties joined hands and, using alternative media, unexpectedly won 82 seats in the parliament. A strong responsible opposition bodes well for Malaysian democracy.

Malaysia in 2008: The Elections That Broke the Tiger's Back

The March 2008 general elections fundamentally altered Malaysian politics. The ruling coalition lost its two-thirds majority in the national Parliament and five state assemblies, and Prime Minister Abdullah was forced to announce his resignation. The opposition also stands the chance of forming the national government in the near future.

Trends in Parliamentary Oversight

This report presents the Roundtable entitled Legislative Oversight: Theories and Practices, organized by the editors as part of the Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA, January 7-10, 2004. The papers presented herein reflect the papers presented at that Roundtable. The paper by Pelizzo and Stapenhurst presents the data collected from a survey of 83 countries by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in collaboration with the World Bank Institute. The data analysis reveals that legislatures in parliamentary systems are generally better equipped to oversee government activities than legislatures in presidential and semipresidential systems. The paper also investigates the role of legislatures in preparing and approving the budget. The analysis reveals that legislatures in presidential systems are generally the most active legislatures in the preparation of the budget, while parliaments are the most active legislatures in approving the budget. Thomas F. Reminton's paper examines the use of de facto oversight mechanisms by the Russian Federal Assembly and relates them to institutional performance in the postcommunist Russian state. The paper finds that by contrast with the early 1990s, policy making has become much more efficient. David M. Olson's paper argues that the Polish Sejm is currently the most active post-communist parliament in oversight and administrative review. In the light of the Polish experience, the paper suggests that post-communist parliaments will have increasing capacity to be active in oversight as a result of both the budgeting process and growing international influences upon policy choices. Edward Schneier's paper investigates why the post-reforms Indonesian parliament has not put mechanisms of legislative oversight to effective use. The problem is partially by three sets of factors, namely the legislature's own failure to institutionalize, endemic problems of corruption and a lingering tendency to defer to entrenched elites. Scott W. Desposato's paper investigates how legislatures' ability to engage in effective oversight activities is significantly related to both the formal institutional framework and informal institutional incentives. The paper investigates the impact of the informal institutional incentives on state assemblies'ability to oversee executive activities in Brazil. Mark Shepard argues that in spite of the House of Commons' awareness of its limitations in administrative review and oversight, change has been slow and hampered by the constitutional frame-work, executive hegemony and strong partisanship in the British Parliament. The author further argues that although there have been some important concessions recently, many of the successful reforms have focused on improving efficiency of oversight rather than effectiveness of oversight per se. Timothy J. Power's paper addresses one of the most important issues that constitutional engineers and practitioners are confronted with, that is: is executive dominance irreversible? After discussing some of the historical factors that have created the conditions for executive dominance, Power illustrates how the Brazilian congress managed to do the unthinkable: to reduce the President's authority to issue emergency decrees and, by doing so, to reduce substantially the power of the executive. Keith Schulz's paper raises an interesting issue. He notes that while international agencies' involvement in legislative capacity building represents one of the most critical aspects of their activities, it is not at all clear how the impact of internationally funded programs should be measured. The author also discusses how USAID has attempted in the past couple of years to re-spond to this dearth of knowledge and information.

The Mobilizing Effect of Majority–Minority Districts on Latino Turnout

We inquire whether residence in majority–minority districts raises or lowers turnout among Latinos. We argue that the logic suggesting that majority–minority districts suppress turnout is flawed and hypothesize that the net effect is empowering. Further, we suggest that residing in multiple overlapping majority–minority districts—for state assemblies, senates, and the U.S. House—further enhances turnout. We test our hypotheses using individual-level turnout data for voters in five Southern California counties. Examining three general elections from 1996 to 2000, we demonstrate that residing in a majority-Latino district ultimately has a positive effect on the propensity of Latino voters to turn out, an effect that increases with the number of Latino districts in which the voter resides and is consistent across the individual offices in which a voter might be descriptively represented. In contrast, the probability that non-Hispanic voters turn out decreases as they are subject to increasing layers of majority-Latino districting.

Malaysia: UMNO´s Search for Relevance

To many observers, Malaysia at the beginning of 2000 appeared a rare case of stability in a turbulent region. Just a month earlier, Dr Mahathir Mohamad had led his government to secure 148 of 193 parliamentary seats in a general election. Political uncertainties had receded, declared a leading financial house.1 Government electoral success, however, came from the support of non Malays on the peninsula and indigenous groups in Sabah and Sarawak, while Malays deserted it in droves. The United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the dominant party in the governing Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, had perhaps its worst election ever. Its parliamentary seats declined from 94 to 72. Four ministers and five deputy ministers were defeated, and many others experienced a massive reduction in their majorities. Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) was the main beneficiary, tripling its representation to 27 seats, becoming leader of the parliamentary opposition, and scoring massive majorities in Kelantan and Terengganu state assemblies. The new Parti keADILan Nasional (National Justice Party, or keADILan) led by Wan Azizah, wife of ousted former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, gained 5 seats and some 12 per cent of the vote. About half the Malay vote went to the opposition ? indeed, some UMNO leaders put the party's share at less than 40 per cent.2 That removed the basis of governmental legitimacy in Malaysia hitherto, which had rested on UMNO having overwhelming Malay support. What were the reasons for UMNO's setback? The main cause was the

The formyl C–H⋯O hydrogen bond as a critical factor in enantioselective Lewis-acid catalyzed reactions of aldehydes

X-Ray crystallographic studies have provided experimental evidence for the existence of intramolecular formyl C–H hydrogen bonds to oxygen or fluorine ligands in complexes of aldehydes and boron Lewis acids. This type of hydrogen bond can be regarded as ‘induced’ or ‘cooperative’ in the sense that its strength can be expected to increase as the bonding between the formyl oxygen and the Lewis acid becomes stronger. Coplanarity of the formyl group and the metal–X subunit to which it is bound in a five-membered ring effectively restricts rotation about the donor–acceptor bond between the formyl oxygen and the metal center of the Lewis acid, thus creating an additional organizing element in these complexes. This organizing element provides a simple and logical basis for understanding the mechanistic basis for enantioselectivity in many reactions of achiral aldehydes which are catalyzed by chiral Lewis acids. These reactions include aldol, allylation and ene addition to the formyl CO group and Diels–Alder reactions of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes with 1,3-dienes. The idea of the induced formyl C–H hydrogen bond can serve as a guide in the design of new enantioselective catalysts as well as a mechanistic principle for understanding preferred transition state assemblies.

Southern Women in Revolution, 1776-1800: Personal and Political Narratives.

Southern Women in Revolution, 1776-1800 offers readers a new approach to the social history of the American Revolution and a unique perspective on this period in southern women's history. Using ninety-eight petitions that women in North and South Carolina submitted to their state assemblies during or after the war, Cynthia A. Kierner examines southern women's wartime experiences and assesses their changing expectations for public and private life.Between 1776 and 1800, southern women submitted hundreds of petitions to their state legislatures. Most sought compensation for losses incurred during the Revolution, and many included moving accounts of personal and economic hardships. To convey the diversity of women's experiences, Southern Women in Revolution, 1776-1800 includes petitions from Whigs and Tories, rich and poor, whites and African Americans. Suggesting that the public ideology of the American Revolution affected women's understanding of seemingly private personal relationships, the author also includes selections from women's earliest petitions for divorce, property rights, and the emancipation of slaves.Critical and compelling sources, there petitions constitute the largest body of women's writing about the American Revolution and its impact on civilian life. Divided into five chapters, each prefaced with an interpretive essay, the book places the petitions in historical context, focusing on both the stories women told and the language they used when venturing into the public sphere to voice their concerns to their legislatures.

Some New Directions in the Historiography of State Assemblies and Parliaments in Early and Late Modern Europe

SUMMARY In this article John Rogister draws attention to a survey of recent work being prepared by members of ICHRPI/CIHAE for 1999, on the role of assemblies and parliaments in the development of the modern nation state. He surveys some tendencies emerging from work already published. This suggests how many different contingencies have determined whether any particular assembly developed into a body representative of a nation, or some discrete component of what later became a nation. It is emerging, particularly for the French monarchy, that the received model of representative assemblies of the early-modern period, which in general decline in face of the advance of a centralizing absolutism, needs to be reconsidered. The actual developments arc far more complex.

Foreign Policy and Electoral Politics in India: Inconsequential Connection

Research Article| September 01 1994 Foreign Policy and Electoral Politics in India: Inconsequential Connection Partha S. Ghosh Partha S. Ghosh Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1994) 34 (9): 807–817. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645167 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Partha S. Ghosh; Foreign Policy and Electoral Politics in India: Inconsequential Connection. Asian Survey 1 September 1994; 34 (9): 807–817. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2645167 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1994 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Molecular-Level Electron Transfer and Excited State Assemblies on Surfaces of Metal Oxides and Glass

A general procedure is described for the attachment to antimony-doped tin dioxide (Sn02:Sb), tin-doped indium oxide (In203:Sn), or glass surfaces of molecules with known electron transfer or excited state properties, e.g. [Ru(bpy)2(4,4’-(CO~H)zbpy)] (PF6)2 (bpy = 2,2’-bipyridine, 4,4’-(COzH)zbpy = 4,4’-dicarboxy-2,2’-bipyridine), based on the interaction between surface hydroxyls and carboxylic acid groups. Integrations of cyclic voltammetric waveforms on the metal oxide electrodes give maximum surface coverages of r 1 X 10-10 mol/cm2 for the ruthenium complex, which corresponds to a monolayer coverage. Atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements reveal that the metal oxide surfaces are highly roughened with root mean square roughnesses in the range 4-6.5 nm for tin oxide. The smaller organics, N-methyl-N-viologenpropanoic acid bis(hexafluorophosphate), [MVC02H] (PF6)2, and 1 OH-phenothiazine10-propanoic acid, PTZ-C02H, display similar surface coverages. Resonance Raman measurements on surfaces containing the ruthenium complex imply that attachment to SnO2, In203, and Ti02 is via an ester bond. For ,902, two modes of binding are suggested, a majority by a chelating carboxylato link and a minority by ester formation. Binding constants for surface attachment were measured in CH2Cl2 at 298 K by equilibration, which gave K = 8 X lo4 M-’ on both SnO2:Sb and InzO3:Sn. Surface molecular assemblies have been prepared containing [ Ru( bp y ) 2(4,4’(COzH)2bpy)] (PF6) 2 and [Os( bpy) 2( 4,4’(CO2H)2 bpy ) ] (PF6) 2, [ MVCO#)(PF6)2, and PTZ-CO2H. In these assemblies, separate waves are observed for the different redox couples at potentials near those found for surfaces containing only a single component. Emission decay of the metal-toligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited state of [Ru(bpy)2(4,4’-(CO~H)2bpy)](PF6)2 attached to the glass backings of metal oxide electrodes or to glass slides was found to be nonexponential with average lifetimes (( 7 ) ) from < 5 to 600 ns with CHzCl2 in the external solution. ( T ) increases as surface coverage decreases. There is evidence for excited stateground state interactions by a red-shift in the emission maximum as surface coverage increases. Emission decay remains nonexponential even on surfaces that are lightly covered. Emission is nearly completely quenched on the semiconductor surfaces, with ( T ) < 5 ns. The bound Ru(I1) emitters on glass were quenched by electron or energy transfer to the coattached quenchers [MV-C02H] (PF& FTZ-C02H, or [Os(bpy)2(4,4’-(C02H)zbpy)] (PF& suggesting that lateral electron and energy transfer can occur across the surface. Surface lifetime quenching also occurred in the presence of added 10-methyl-10-phenothiazene in the external CH2Cl2 solution. The kinetics of lifetime quenching did not follow Stern-Volmer kinetics but could be fit to a model in which there are both quenchable and unquenchable sites on the same surface.

The Nigerian elections of 1983

AbstractIn 1979 Nigeria's military government held the first general elections for fifteen years. The politicians then resumed power under a republican constitution. The National Party of Nigeria, a conservative coalition, narrowly won the elections from four other parties and virtually controlled the next elections in 1983. There were five election rounds: for the President, for nine-teen state governers, for the Senate, for the House of Representatives and for the state assemblies. Increases over the 1979 vote in the presidential round indicated some rigging. Results in the following rounds were incredible. The root cause was northern reluctance within the National Party to honour an agreement to a southern presidential candidate at the next elections in 1987 and southern competition for the 1987 nomination. After the elections the courts failed to redress the rigging and the President to purge corrupt Ministers. The military then overthrew the government and resumed control.

Democracy and Ethnic Conflict in India: Precolonial Legacies in Tamil Nadu

India is one of the few nations to become independent of European imperialism that has maintained a basically stable postimperial history of electoral politics. Historians in Europe and North America often explain the success of Indian electoral politics as a result of the long period-about 150 years-of British rule. Local elections began being held under the imperial government in the 1870s. Observers point as well to the fact that the leadership of the Indian National Congress contained many men such as Gandhi and Nehru who were trained in British or Anglo-Indian legal traditions and who were deeply attached to electoral processes. There are, however, reasons indigenous to the subcontinent for the survival of democratic government in India; in the long-term perspective of political culture, we can see that electoral processes have a firm rooting. This is not to suggest that electoral democracy in India is as thoroughly integrated into political processes as many critics would like. Elections to village government, for example, tend to be endlessly postponed by state governments, and major political parties also tend to postpone elections to party leadership. However, the attachment of ordinary Indians to their right to vote in general elections of state and national assemblies appears to be deep and profound. In an action admired throughout the world, voters

Patterns of Church Influence in Brazil's Political Transition

Brazil's twenty-one year authoritarian regime came to a close on January 15, 1985, when Tancredo Neves, the candidate of the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, was elected president by an electoral college of state and federal legislators. Although Neves died before assuming office, the political transition of which he was a part has continued under his successor, Jose Sarney. Municipal elections were held on November 15, 1985, and exactly one year later general elections for governors, state and federal assemblies and senates, and representatives for the constituent assembly (the body which framed a new constitution during 1987-1988). The Brazilian transition, which was initiated by President Geisel in 1974, is the longest and most complex of the generalized trend from dictatorship to democracy in southern Europe and South America.' During the years of the military regime, the Catholic church played a prominent role in society and politics. Reversing historical trends in Brazil, and elsewhere for that matter, the church came into opposition to the military regime and was extremely active in mobilizing at the bases of society in order to pressure for change. Due to its strategy and actions, the Catholic church has been the focus of a relatively large number of studies and publications originating in Brazil and outside.2 Yet, while an appreciable amount of descriptive and analytical literature exists on its social and political role, there is no recent research dealing with the influence of the church on the population, some 90 percent of which is declared Catholic. The last study of this type was conducted by Bruneau, who concluded that the church, in its general strategy of change and influence, had little impact. However, this study was done in 1975, before the church had consolidated its commitment in favor of change and before the institution was widely recognized for its role in opposing the authoritarian regime. A more up to date study of the church's impact on the general population is perhaps no more important than at present, in the context of the transition to, and now possible consolidation of, the democratic regime. Political life is presently open, and parties and movements can form to mobilize and represent different sectors of the population. Many more opportunities for action and participation exist than was the case during the authoritarian regime, when the church tended to monopolize the role of unofficial opposition, acting in effect as a surrogate for other entities in society. If we are to fully understand the church's current role and where it is heading in this changing and potentially volatile milieu, we must have some indication of the strength of the popular support it currently enjoys. Using survey data collected in 1982 and 1984, this paper attempts to examine the extent of church influence in present-day Brazil and consequently to offer some preliminary observations and predictions with respect to its ongoing involvement in this-worldly

India in 1981: Stronger Political Authority and Social Tension

Research Article| February 01 1982 India in 1981: Stronger Political Authority and Social Tension Walter K. Andersen Walter K. Andersen Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Far Eastern Survey (1953) 22 (2): 119–135. https://doi.org/10.2307/2643939 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Walter K. Andersen; India in 1981: Stronger Political Authority and Social Tension. Far Eastern Survey 28 January 1953; 22 (2): 119–135. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2643939 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1982 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Law-medicine notes. Malpractice crisis: the flood of legislation.

TWO earlier columns this year recognized the malpractice insurance crisis of 1975. These writings were primarily analytical, since legislative reaction had not yet occurred except in a few states. Now, in the late autumn, most of the year's activity in the state assemblies has taken place, and the results can be assessed in rough fashion. Detailed review and thorough understanding of the effects of these changes will take some months. Comprehension of the operational implications of some of the more radical reforms will take much longer, since court tests of interpretation, consistency, and constitutionality could consume years of time and . . .

Community dialog technology

For the past three years, the M.I.T. Community Dialog Project has facilitated approximately 200 group meetings, settings ranging from high schools and universities to political and industrial organizations, from senior citizens groups and rotary clubs to state and national assemblies of government officials, scientists and businessmen. Using electronic voting technology and specially designed meeting procedures, every participant is enabled to make an anonymous coded response to questions posed by the moderator or another participant, and to observe instantaneously a tally of how many people voted in what category. The purpose is to get a rapid appraisal of where there is consensus and where there is controversy, to allow participants to reveal their ignorance, to deal with controversial questions without intimidation, and generally to make the discussion more responsive to real interests and needs of the group. In special cases, quantitative procedures are used to rate alternatives against criteria and find group utilities, but mostly these procedures are regarded as an augmentation of normal free discussion and idea formulation, not a means for commitment to final decision. The paper evaluates the usefulness of these techniques as a function of the type of topic and questions used, the personality and experience of participants, the style of the moderator, and other factors. It poses fundamental questions regarding the democratic process especially in view of rapidly increasing capabilities for large scale community communication, such as are provided by two-way cable TV.

How Florida threw out the pork chop gang

AbstractHow the state legislature was revolutionized in less than a decade, from a “national joke” to a near standard of excellence for other state assemblies to follow.

Political Matrix and Political Representation: Prolegomenon to a New Departure from an Old Problem

Scholars interested in theorizing about political representation in terms relevant to democratic governance in mid-twentieth century America find themselves in a quandary. We are surrounded by functioning representative institutions, or at least by institutions formally described as representative. Individuals who presumably “represent” other citizens govern some 90 thousand different political units—they sit on school and special district boards, on township and city councils, on county directorates, on state and national assemblies, and so forth. But the flourishing activity of representation has not yet been matched by a sustained effort to explain what makes the representational process tick.Despite the proliferation of representative governments over the past century, theory about representation has not moved much beyond the eighteenth-century formulation of Edmund Burke. Certainly most empirical research has been cast in the Burkean vocabulary. But in order to think in novel ways about representative government in the twentieth-century, we may have to admit that present conceptions guiding empirical research are obsolete. This in turn means that the spell of Burke's vocabulary over scientific work on representation must be broken.To look afresh at representation, it is necessary to be sensitive to the unresolved tension between the two main currents of contemporary thinking about representational relationships. On the one hand, representation is treated as a relationship between any one individual, the represented, and another individual, the representative—an inter-individual relationship. On the other hand, representatives are treated as a group, brought together in the assembly, to represent the interest of the community as a whole—an inter-group relationship. Most theoretical formulations since Burke are cast in one or the other of these terms.