Where's the Party?

TLDR

Political parties play a prominent role in legislative politics and research. The study uses 99th Congress data to assess how much party behavior, defined as preference‑independent actions, shapes committee formation and conferee appointments. The authors develop and test four hypotheses to evaluate party effects in these legislative stages. Controlling for preferences and other factors, significant party effects are rare, and the discussion reconciles these results with prior findings.

Abstract

Political parties are prominent in legislative politics and legislative research. Using data from the 99th Congress, this article assesses the degree to which significant party behaviour – defined and operationalized as behaviour that is independent of preferences – occurs in two key stages of legislative organization: the formation of standing committees and the appointment of conferees. Four hypotheses are developed and tested. When controlling for preferences and other hypothesized effects, positive and significant party effects are rare. A discussion addresses some criticisms of this unorthodox approach and attempts to reconcile some differences between these and previous findings.