Surrogates Beyond Borders: Black Members of the United States Congress and the Representation of African Interests on the Congressional Foreign-Policy Agenda

Abstract

This article proposes a theory of transnational surrogate representation to explain the representation of African interests in the U.S. Congress. The argument is supported through analyses of bill sponsorship and committee hearings between 1979 and 2008. Compared with non-African-American members of Congress, black representatives sponsored significantly more bills related to African issues, and black committee chairs held significantly more hearings on African issues. These findings suggest affective ties associated with transnationalism motivate black representatives to act for an international black constituency. This extends the concept of surrogate representation beyond geopolitical borders, and implies that legislative diversity influences the content of Congress’s foreign-policy agenda.