Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T22:08:01.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Moderating Backlash: Racial Mobilization, Partisan Coalitions, and Public Policy in the American States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Brian S. Krueger  and
Paul D. Mueller
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In general, state public policy responds positively to increased electoral participation among social groups. However, consistent with the racial threat hypothesis, this pattern appears to reverse itself for African Americans: as blacks turn out in greater proportions they actually incur decreasing policy responsiveness. Another research tradition suggests that political parties play a crucial mediating role between interests and government. Thus, African Americans may be able to counter this backlash effect by increasing their participation in the Democratic partisan coalition. Using a variety of pooled time series techniques, we demonstrate the general robustness of the racial backlash model but find that when African Americans increase their contribution to the Democratic coalition, state policy responds better to their interests. This result demonstrates the centrality of parties for democratic responsiveness.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , Summer 2001 , pp. 165 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 The American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, John H. 1995. Why Parties?: The Origin and Transformation of the American Party System. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alford, Robert R., and Friedland, Roger. 1985. Powers of Theory: Capitalism, the State, and Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Paul Allen. 1997. Party Politics in America. 8th ed. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Berry, William D., Ringquist, Evan J., Fording, Richard C., and Hanson, Russell L.. 1998. “Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States, 1960-93.” American Journal of Political Science 42:327–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, Earl, and Black, Merle. 1987. Politics and Society in the South. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Blalock, Hubert M. Jr. 1957. “Per Cent Non-White and Discrimination in the South.” American Sociological Review 22:677–682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blalock, Hubert M. Jr. 1967. Toward a Theory of Minority-Group Relations. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Brown, Robert. 1995. “Party Cleavage and Welfare Effort in the American States.” American Political Science Review 89:23–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, Walter Dean. 1987. “The Turnout Problem.” In Elections American Style, ed. Reichley, A. J.. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Carmichael, Stokely, and Hamilton, Charles V.. 1967. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Carmines, Edward G., and Stimson, James A.. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Edsall, Thomas Byrne, and Edsall, Mary D.. 1991. Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., and Wright, Gerald C.. 1980. “Policy Representation of Constituency Interests.” Political Behavior 2:91–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., Wright, Gerald C., and McIver, John P.. 1993. Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion and Policy in the American States. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Giles, Michael W., and Evans, Arthur. 1986. “The Power Approach to Intergroup Hostility.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 30:469–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giles, Michael W., and Hertz, Kaenan. 1994. “Racial Threat and Partisan Identification.” American Political Science Review 88:317–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilliam, Franklin D. Jr., and Whitby, Kenny J.. 1989. “Race, Class, and Attitudes toward Social Welfare Spending.” Social Science Quarterly 70:88–100.Google Scholar
Glazer, Amihai, Grofman, Bernard, and Owen, Guillermo. 1998. “A Neo-Downsian Model of Group-Oriented Voting and Racial Backlash.” Public Choice 97:23–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, William H. 1997. Econometric Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Hero, Rodney E. 1998. Faces of Inequality: Social Diversity in American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hero, Rodney E., and Tolbert, Caroline J.. 1996. “A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of Politics and Policy in the States of the U.S.” American Journal of Political Science 40:851–871.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbs, Douglas A. Jr. 1977. “Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy.” American Political Science Review 86:658–674.Google Scholar
Hill, Kim Quaile, and Leighley, Jan E.. 1992. “The Policy Consequences of Class Bias in State Electorates.” American Journal of Political Science 36:351–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Kim Quaile, Leighley, Jan E., and Hinton-Andersson, Angela. 1995. “Lower-Class Mobilization and Policy Linkage in the U.S. States.” American Journal of Political Science 39:75–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hood, M. V. III, Kidd, Quentin, and Morris, Irwin L.. 1999. “Of Byrd[s] and Bumpers: Using Democratic Senators to Analyze Political Change in the South, 1960-1995.” American Journal of Political Science 43:465–487.Google Scholar
Huckfeldt, R. Robert, and Kohfeld, Carol. 1989. Race and the Decline of Class in American Politics. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Inniss, Leslie, and Sittig, Jeralynn. 1996. “Race, Class, and Support for the Welfare State.” Sociological Inquiry 66:175–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacoby, William G. 1994. “Public Attitudes toward Government Spending.” American Journal of Political Science 38:336–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, Edward T. Jr. 1979. “Competition, Constituencies, and Welfare Policies in American States.” American Political Science Review 73:414–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jewell, Malcolm E. 1955. “Party Voting in American State Legislatures.” American Political Science Review 49:773–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, M. H. 1972. “What Is Black Politics? A Frame of Reference for Black Politics.” In Black Political Life in the United States: A Fist as the Pendulum, ed. Henderson, L. J.. San Francisco, CA: Chandler.Google Scholar
Johnson, Martin. 2001. “The Impact of Social Diversity and Racial Attitudes on Social Welfare Policy.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 1:27–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Key, V.O. Jr. 1949. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Key, V.O. Jr. 1964. Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups. 5th ed. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co.Google Scholar
King, Gary. 1997. A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem: Reconstructing Individual Behavior from Aggregate Data. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Klingman, David, and Lammers, William W.. 1984. “The ‘General Policy Liberalism’ Factor in American State Politics.” American Journal of Political Science 28:598–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. 1997. “Unequal Participation: Democracy's Unresolved Dilemma.” American Political Science Review 91:1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merelman, Richard M. 1994. “Racial Conflict and Cultural Politics in the United States.” Journal of Politics 56:1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Warren E., and Merrill Shanks, J.. 1996. The New American Voter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Morehouse, Sarah McCally. 1973. “The State Political Party and the Policy-Making Process.” American Political Science Review 67:55–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, Benjamin I. 1978. Choices and Echoes in Presidential Elections. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Plotnick, Robert D., and Winters, Richard F.. 1985. “A Politico-Economic Theory of Income Redistribution.” American Political Science Review 79:458–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radcliff, Benjamin, and Saiz, Martin. 1995. “Race, Turnout, and Public Policy in the United States.” Political Research Quarterly 48:775–794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringquist, Evan J., Hill, Kim Quaile, Leighley, Jan E., and Hinton-Andersson, Angela. 1997. “Lower-Class Mobilization and Policy Linkage in the U.S. States: A Correction.” American Journal of Political Science 41:339–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schattschneider, E.E. 1948. The Struggle for Party Government. College Park, MD: University of Maryland Press.Google Scholar
Seltzer, Richard, and Smith, Robert C.. 1985. “Race and Ideology.” Phylon 46:98–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Mark A. 1997. “The Nature of Party Governance: Connecting Conceptualization and Measurement.” American Journal of Political Science 41:1042–1056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Robert, and Seltzer, Richard. 1992. Race, Class, and Culture: A Study in Afro-American Mass Opinion. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Schwarz, John E., and Fenmore, Barton. 1977. “Presidential Election Results and Congressional Roll Call Behavior: The Case of 1964, 1968 and 1972.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 2:409–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SPPQ. 2000. State Politics & Policy Quarterly Data Resource. State Politics & Policy Quarterly [cited September 5, 2000]. Available from http://www.unl.edu/sppq.Google Scholar
Takaki, Ronald T. 1979. Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Terkildsen, Nayda. 1993. “When White Voters Evaluate Black Candidates: The Processing Implications of Candidate Skin Color, Prejudice, and Self-Monitoring.” American Journal of Political Science 37:1032–1053.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Brady, Henry E.. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Voss, Stephen D., and Miller, Penny. 2001. “Following a False Trail: The Hunt for White Backlash in Kentucky's 1996 Desegregation Vote.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 1:63–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, Hanes. 1985. Invisible Politics: Black Political Behavior. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Wright, Gerald C. Jr. 1977. “Racism and Welfare Policy in America.” Social Science Quarterly 57:718–730.Google Scholar
Wright, Gerald, Erikson, Robert, and McIver, John. 1985. “Measuring State Partisanship and Ideology with Survey Data.” Journal of Politics 47:469–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar