Behavioral Study of Political Ideology and Public Policy Formulation

The editors (professors of political science at Auburn U.) present 11 contributions investigating the behavioral aspects of political ideology and connections to public policy formation in the United States. Six empirical studies examine the rise of ideology in the post-New Deal party system, ideological realignment and partisan change in the American South, measurement of the ideologies of US Senators, and testing partisanship as a variable in Senate voting on abortion legislation, among other topics. The remaining, more theoretical, papers explore such issues as a proposed method for measuring the ideological preferences of US Presidents, the ideology of Richard Nixon's domestic policy, and problem definition and agenda setting. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR