Abstract: Empirical models of spatial voting allow us to infer legislators' locations in an abstract policy or ideological space using their roll-call votes. Over the past 25 years, these models have provided new insights about the U.S. Congress, and legislative behavior more generally. There are now a number of alternative models, estimators, and software packages that researchers can use to recover latent issue or ideological spaces from voting data. These different tools usually produce substantively similar estimates, but important differences also arise. We investigated the sources of observed differences between two leading methods, NOMINATE and IDEAL. Using data from the 1994 to 1997 Supreme Court and the 109th Senate, we determined that while some observed differences in the estimates produced by each model stem from fundamental differences in the models' underlying behavioral assumptions, others arise from arbitrary differences in implementation. Our Monte Carlo experiments revealed that neither model has a clear advantage over the other in the recovery of legislator locations or roll-call midpoints in either large or small legislatures.

Abstract: Carroll et al. (2009) summarize the similarities and differences between the NOMINATE and IDEAL methods of fitting spatial voting models to binary roll-call data. As those authors note, for the class of problems with which either NOMINATE and the Bayesian quadratic-normal model can be used, the ideal point estimates almost always coincide, and when they do not, the discrepancy is due to the somewhat arbitrary identification and computational constraints imposed by each method. There are, however, many problems for which the Bayesian quadratic-normal model can be easily generalized, so as to address a broad array of questions and take advantage of additional data. Given the nature and source of the differences between NOMINATE and the Bayesian approach—as well as the fact that both approaches are approximations of the decision-making processes being modeled—we believe that it is preferable to choose the more flexible Bayesian approach.

Abstract: The power to nominate and confirm federal judges is shared by Congress and the President, yet few works explicitly address the role Congress plays in shaping the preselection pool for judicial nominees. In this article, we illuminate this debate by exploring judicial nomination requests from Members of Congress to the Eisenhower and Ford Administrations. In explaining who is nominated, the characteristics of the nominee matter more than the characteristics of the nominator, with the party affiliation of a nominee being the strongest predictive factor. Institutional characteristics are more prevalent at the confirmation stage than at the nomination stage, where, when making confirmation decisions, the Senate relied more heavily on its members, on electoral considerations, and the judicial experience of nominees than did presidents in nominating them. The results provide a more comprehensive view of the nomination-confirmation process, and enrich our understanding of inter-branch relations.

Abstract: This paper investigates the reasons behind the low representation of women among legislators. Using data from Spain, we find that parties tend to nominate female candidates to poorer positions on the ballot. We examine whether this is due to voter bias or party bias, and find two pieces of evidence supporting the latter: female candidates attract more votes, and political competition improves the quality of positions to which female candidates are assigned. Moreover, gender quotas fail to erode the strategic nomination of female candidates. The evidence in this paper helps explain why quotas in candidate lists might often lead to disappointing increases in the number of elected female politicians.

Abstract: The influence of political parties on decisions made by members of Congress is a hotly debated issue in political science. In foreign policy, which is usually considered nonpartisan, the matter is even more inconclusive. The current study analyzes all the roll-call votes taken on foreign policy issues in the 2002-2006 legislature of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies. After tracing a spatial map of foreign policy preferences among Chilean Deputies using the Nominate statistical package, we concluded that the ideology of the legislator's political party is a predictive factor for his or her foreign policy behavior. Our findings indicate that the way Chilean legislators structure their preferences on foreign policy issues does not differ significantly from the way they shape their domestic policy preferences.

Abstract: THE President is “to NOMINATE, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not otherwise provided for in the Constitution. But the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the President alone, or in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. The President shall have power to fill up ALL VACANCIES which may happen DURING THE RECESS OF THE SENATE, by granting commissions which shall EXPIRE at the end of their next session.”

Abstract: Background: The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 removed the role of the Nearest Relative and allowed service users to nominate instead a Named Person. Service users’ and carers’ perceptions of, and experiences with the new legislation were unknown.Aim: To identify whom service users had nominated; important factors in making a nomination; and carers’ perspectives of the provisions.Method: Twenty service users and ten carers were interviewed to explore experiences with the Named Person provisions. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis.Results: Service users often did not wish to nominate their Nearest Relative, many nominating a friend. Important factors in making a nomination were that the nominee knew the service user's wishes and could be trusted to carry them out. Service users may also choose not to nominate relatives to spare them responsibility.Conclusions: Service users’ relationships with Nearest Relatives may be problematic. Scottish service users should be supported i...

Abstract: To what extent do parties in Africa behave in ways similar to parties in new democracies elsewhere in the world? I examine nominations by the ‘minor’ opposition parties to the single member districts for the legislative elections in Ethiopia, Malawi and Zambia. Using binary logit analysis, I found that generally the number of candidates running in a contest and the use of an ‘electoral arithmetic’ by the parties explains whether they chose to nominate a candidate in a particular electoral district. However, the social demographic characteristics of districts appear to have little impact on whether or not a party nominates a candidate.

Abstract: In this article I outline a theoretical and methodological framework for pursing a comprehensive study of the dominant issues and trends of Russian language culture from the Perestroika era through the present day. My chief claim is that the general shape, tone, and trajectory of a language culture will change over time and depend largely on the interdependence of three driving forces: language ideologies, economies, and technologies. To illustrate and substantiate this working hypothesis I examine both secondary theoretical sources and concrete case studies from the language culture of contemporary Russia (1987-2008). 1. Politkonkretnost' Along with kreativ, it was this term that received the dubious award of "anti-word of the year" (antislovo goda) from a panel of linguists and literary critics appointed to name both the anti-word and word of the year for 2007 (Epshtein 2008). (The honor of "word of the year" went to glamur.) Although a close cousin to politkorrektnost', a derivative of the English "political correctness", it means something quite different (and can be translated literally as 'political concreteness'), more akin to what some believe to have been the very first manifestations of "political correctness", now long forgotten, in Mao's "correct thinking" and the Leninist "correct line-ism" (Suhr and Johnson 2003: 8-9). As Mikhail Epshtein defines the term in his article announcing the awards, Politkonkretnost' is when, in politics, everything is determined in advance, such as duma elections or the election of the next president. Putin comes out in support of "United Russia", they get a majority, nominate a successor, and everyone votes for him. It can be added that recently the word 'konkretnyj' has acquired broad popularity in such slang expressions as 'konkretnyj pacan' ("real [i.e., 'totally awesome'] lad") [and] 'konkretnyj muzik' ("real bloke"). Who are these politically concrete? Those who have announced themselves, positioned themselves within the framework of the dominant policy. The chair of the election commission, who suggests that "the president cannot be incorrect (a formula of papal infallibility)". Cultural and sports leaders begging the president (out of personal love for him) to violate the constitution. Pedagogues and caregivers organizing a movement of young 'bear cubs' (miski) for the sake of victory for the 'all-bear' cause. You sense the difference: in the West--political correctness, in Russia--political concreteness. (Epshtein 2008) (1) On a certain level, the English and Russian terms do share a common orientation--one critical of a certain political or social agenda and cognizant of the powerful role of language in establishing and imposing that agenda. (An interesting corollary here is that both terms seem to be deployed chiefly by opponents of the phenomenon they are using it to describe. No self-respecting person would label him or herself "PC" or, presumably, "politkonkretnyj".) But the objects of criticism are quite different: in one case, left intellectuals who are themselves largely marginalized in American culture; in the other, establishment players who belong, or aspire to belong, to dominant power structures. One sees "political correctness" as an illness of an outgroup and threat to established belief systems, the other views politkonkretnost' as a malady of party insiders keen on reinforcing the status quo and thereby buttressing their own claim to its authority. One challenges the status quo, the other seeks to reinforce it. And yet the two do share one assumption central to my work: that language not only reflects but itself shapes perception, identity, reality; that how we name things and call people helps define not only their image and status in society, but our own as well. In their very differences, the two terms also reflect a second important assumption--that language, culture, and politics are closely intertwined and mutually dependent on one another for meaning. …

Abstract: No accounting of George W. Bush’s administrative strategy is complete without an understanding of his personnel strategy. Primary among the president’s executive powers is the ability to nominate the principal officers of government. These nominations are subject to confirmation by the Senate. The president also has the power to fill lower level offices and positions without confirmation subject to the guidelines provided by law. While not completely controllable, appointees do push the president’s policy vision through hiring decisions, budgeting and spending, and formal rulemaking processes. They interpret the vague and sometimes conflicting laws enacted by Congress. They also monitor bureaucratic activity and communicate the president’s vision to the press and agency employees, clients, and stakeholders. Appointees have important influence over public policies as varied as postwar Iraq reconstruction to the cost estimates of government-funded prescription drug benefits to environmental regulation.1

Abstract: Early in 1931 the Students International Union had invited Williams College President Harry A. Garfield to nominate a Williams student with “interest and knowledge of world affairs” to attend its annual intercollegiate conference of students, some of whom would be chosen to receive scholarships to attend its summer program in Geneva, Switzerland.

Abstract: Using Historical Symbols in the Struggle for Future Power : The Swedish Nobility and the Struggles over the Right to Nominate Local Pastors

Abstract: The pattern of voting in the European Parliament seems to follow the traditional ideological cleavage between left and right. Neither the last enlargement of the European Union nor the important redistributive effects of European policies seem to have changed this. However, the pattern might not completely capture the political debate in states with a complex territorial structure, such as Spain. Using optimal scaling techniques (NOMINATE) and Bayesian estimation (MCMC), the study represents the ideal position for Spanish MEPs. The representation of results suggests that the left-right dimension captures the differences between representatives of Spanish political parties, and between representatives of regionalists and nation-wide parties. The analysis of votes during the V term shows that regionalist representatives adopt positions towards the left of the ideological spectrum regardless of the parliamentary group to which they belong.

Abstract: We suggest using cluster analysis as an alternative to NOMINATE (Poole and Rosenthal 2000) for summarizing legislative voting behavior. NOMINATE is difficult to implement and it assumes that votes are independently and identically distributed while many theories of congressional organization explicitly model the non-independence of vote choice. Cluster analysis is a parsimonious, well-understood statistical technique and it is available in many statistical packages. Cluster analysis produces roll call scores that are highly correlated to NOMINATE scores. This lightweight procedure encourages data analysis and a fresh look at the assumptions typically made when working with roll call data. We explore the consequences of several historical events as well as changes in legislative organization on congressional voting patterns overtime. Using the Groseclose et al. (1999) adjusted scores technique we investigate changes in roll call behavior. We present some simulation results that demonstrate the benefits of the cluster analysis methodology and some issues with NOMINATE.

Abstract: While the constitutional role of the president in the process of selecting Supreme Court justices is limited to the initial selection of nominees, he does not simply select a nominee and then throw the candidate to the wolves of the Senate to be nurtured or devoured at their whim. Existing research looks at the impact of the ideological distance between a president (or his nominee) and the Senate on the president’s strategic selection of whom to nominate, as well as on his decision to “go public” to defend his nominees. However this research fails to capture the nuances of the process. We argue that both the president and the Senate consider a legal and an ideological dimension when evaluating Supreme Court nominees, and that strategic presidents utilize rhetoric to shift Senate consideration of their nominee away from the more controversial dimension and toward the less controversial dimension. To analyze presidential rhetoric during the confirmation process we utilize an original dataset coding seven types of presidential statements about Supreme Court nominees between 1965 and 2005. We find strong evidence that presidents behave in strategic fashion determining both when and how they should “go public” in defense of their nominee based upon the political climate in the Senate. Additionally, we find that presidential rhetoric can impact the outcome of the final Senate confirmation vote, but that this impact is conditional upon both the political climate in the Senate and the types of statements that the president makes.

Abstract: The White House, President Obama Announces Intent to Nominate Francis Collins as NIH Director, press release, July 8, 2009. (Thanks to Heather Joseph.) <strong> Comment. </strong> This is good news for OA supporters in two ways. First, Collins has been a public advocate for OA to data, most notably in the Human Genome Project, which he lead.

Abstract: Abstract What are the most dangerous books in the world? Some might nominate the founding texts of our major religions, which through misinterpretation and manipulation have led to the suffering of millions over the centuries. Others might point to defining modern political works such as Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, Hitler’s Mein Kampf, or Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book. Fiction can also gravely offend public sensibilities, as we have seen in recent decades with book burnings of the Satanic Verses and Harry Potter novels. But for many down the millennia and across the globe no books have been more feared than grimoires: then again, no books have been more valued and revered.

Abstract: This article, based on Bakhtin’s theory, presents a reflection on words that the federal police (re)created to nominate its work operations and that will then become known to the public. The objective is to discursively analyze the designation navalha, determining dialog relations established in order to recover characteristics of establishment of sense effects, observed on police instance and, especially, in the media sphere, space in which a diversity of voices collaborate to the production of spectacularization.

Abstract: An analysis of Global Resources Group Ltd v Mackay which explores the possibility of building links between the offside goals rule and nominate delict of inducing breach of contract.