SPPQ - 2005 Best Paper Award Winner
Cox, Kousser, and McCubbins Win the 2005 SPPQ Best Paper AwardState Politics and Policy Quarterly and the State Politics and Policy organized section of the American Political Science Association are proud to announce that a paper by Gary W. Cox, Thad Kousser, and Mathew D. McCubbins (all of the University of California, San Diego), “What Polarizes Parties? Preferences and Agenda Control in American State Legislatures,” is the winner of the 2005 SPPQ Best Paper Award. The paper was presented at the 2005 meeting of the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC. The award selection committee consisted of Craig Volden, The Ohio State University (chair); Frederick J. Boehmke, University of Iowa; and Anne Marie Cammisa, Suffolk University. In selecting the Cox, Kousser, and McCubbins paper for this award, the selection committee stated that:
This paper relies on the methodological advantages of the U.S. states to test the authors' general theory of party agenda control. The theory predicts that the majority party in the legislature can, under certain circumstances, use its agenda control to avoid policy changes against the preferences of most majority party members. Unfortunately, many tests of this theory using data from the U.S. Congress have required assumptions that critics have deemed quite troublesome. Here, the authors rely on two "quasi-experiments" in the state legislatures, which allow cleaner tests of the theory's hypotheses. First, a citizen initiative in Colorado in the late 1980s limited the majority party's agenda control by guaranteeing a vote on every bill. Comparing the direction of policy change, ideal point distributions, and the frequency with which the majority party was "rolled" before and after this rule change provides substantial evidence for the authors' theory. Second, in the California Assembly, more costly bills are placed in the "Suspense File," over which the majority party can exert more control, compared to less costly bills that all receive votes. Although not fully comparable, the Suspense File bills are shown to be more consistent with the authors' theory than were other bills. In sum, the authors' search for and use of relevant comparative cases across the states was seen as commendable by the award committee, setting an example for future work in state politics research.
The author(s) will receive:
• A plaque commemorating the award,
• $250, and
• The opportunity to publish the paper in State Politics and Policy Quarterly.
The SPPQ Best Paper Award is presented to the best paper on the American states presented at any political science conference during the calendar year. The goal of the award is to recognize and encourage high quality scholarship on state politics and policy.
Nominations for the 2006 SPPQ Best Paper Award may be made to the editor of State Politics and Policy Quarterly or to the award selection committee. Nominations should include the name of the author(s), the title of the paper, and the name of the conference at which the paper was presented. If possible, nominations should include a copy of the original paper (preferably in electronic form), as presented at the conference.
The 2006 SPPQ Best Paper Award selection committee members are Michael Martinez, University of Florida (chair); Michelle Barnello, Christopher Newport University; and Benjamin Highton, University of California, Davis. Nominations (including a copy of the paper as presented at the conference) must be received by JANUARY 1, 2007.