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Legislative Professionalism and Incumbent Reelection: The Development of Institutional Boundaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

William D. Berry ,
Michael B. Berkman  and
Stuart Schneiderman
William D. Berry
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Michael B. Berkman
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University
Stuart Schneiderman
Affiliation:
Associated Press
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Abstract

It is well established that legislators from highly professionalized bodies are more likely to win reelection than members of less professionalized legislatures. We find that the effect of professionalization on incumbent electoral success is far more pervasive. As the level of professionalism of a legislature increases, the effects of external political and economic forces (such as coattails from higher level elections and national economic conditions) on a legislator's chances for reelection diminish in strength. This implies that legislative professionalization promotes institutionalization by establishing boundaries that insulate members from external shocks. We reach these conclusions by specifying and testing a district-level model of state legislative election outcomes, using as dependent variable the probability that an incumbent will win reelection. The model is estimated with probit using data for more than 42,000 state legislators from 1970 to 1989.

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Type
Articles
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American Political Science Review , Volume 94 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 859 - 874
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2000

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