Federal Bills and Resolutions

The introduction of federal legislation, mandated by Article I, Section 7 of the United States Constitution, is in the form of bills and joint resolutions. This article reviews aspects of the lawmaking process in the context of constitutional amendments; commemorative legislation; pork-barrel measures, including logrolling; and a bill about the United coinage system. Throughout, the examples given show the difficulty of passage from bill to law, made deliberately arduous by the framers of the Constitution.     

“'Are we going to now govern by anecdote?’: Rhetorical constructions of welfare recipients in congressional hearings,debates, and legislation, 1992–1996”

Through a rhetorical analysis of the welfare reform hearings and debates from the 102nd, 103rd, and 104th Congresses, all of which led to President Clinton's historical August 22, 1996 signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, P.L. 104–193, this essay contributes to our developing knowledge of deliberative hearings and debates as precursors to legislation. Relying on a narrative approach, this study challenges the liberatory and participatory functions of the narrative paradigm as conceived by Walter Fisher. The central argument developed in this essay is that some narrative forms facilitate elite discourse, discourage the inclusion of alternative public views, and delegitimize particular public voices.     

Librarians Before Congress: Advocacy and Identity

This article explores the connection between congressional testimony and political identity for libraries. Library testimony highlights the ways in which libraries are hybrid, public/private institutions. Thus in some areas (such as library funding or intellectual property), libraries are like private associations: They testify to protect interests that are library specific. In other areas (such as government information), libraries are more like governmental agencies: They testify as a partner and stakeholder in specific government programs, policies, and benefits. And in yet other areas (such as privacy), libraries are more like issue-oriented advocacy groups: They testify to engage their peers and patrons while organizing these constituencies to effectively advocate for public goods.     

The United States of America: “A culture of war”

Following a discussion of the concept of war – its definitions, historical origins, 20th–21st century examples, and immediate and legacy costs and consequences – the question of the United States as an empire is explored. The evidence indicates the United States meets all qualifications to be considered an “empire,” specifically a global empire seeking hegemonic economic, political, and cultural control of the world. This evidence includes a worldwide system of military bases, an extensive military–industrial–congressional complex that shapes domestic and foreign policies and actions, and an extensive national security system that now endangers and threatens the legal rights of its own citizens. At the core of U.S. pursuit of empire is a historic commitment to the beliefs in “manifest destiny” and American “exceptionalism.” It is proposed that the process and consequences of much of this are rooted in the existence of a U.S. “culture of war” that dominates U.S. domestic and foreign policies, and their destructive implementation across the world. A “culture of war” is an interlocking system of national meanings, beliefs, behaviors, institutions, and identities that consider violence and war necessary and justifiable in the pursuit of U.S. hegemonic global interests. Given the continuous pursuit of violence and war by the U.S. in the clear absence of security and survival threats, popular views that human beings are instinctually programmed to engage in war appears untenable. A general systems model of the socialization of a “culture of war” in the United States is presented to demonstrate the critical elements and processes involved in its development. The possibility of countering the building of a “culture of war” with building a “culture of peace” is shared in the article's closing section.     

The Congressional Archive: A Breed Apart

ABSTRACT

Congressional archives are unique among archival collections. Bigger in size and often broader in scope in terms of the kinds of records they contain, these collections place an uncommon strain on academic archives. Before agreeing to assume such a burden, it is important for administrators to understand the special characteristics of a congressional archive and their staff's ability to manage the project while fulfilling their mission to the educational institution.     

立法听证的宪政之维

立法听证是程序的正义诉求,它为实体正义的实现提供了正当性基础。立法听证充分体现了公民权利与国家权力平衡的宪政理念,是公民有序政治参与的一种创新和探索,是“无知之幕”宪政规则的深层体现,是社会组织表达自己利益诉求和弥补地域代表制不足的制度化安排,它为违宪审查权的行使提供了客观依据。立法听证与宪政具有高度的正相关性。因此,从宪政视域研究如何完善我国现行的立法听证制度具有极其重要的理论与实践价值。     

制度移植与本土实践:以立法听证为个案的研究

本文从理论上建构了一个分析制度移植的框架,然后用它检验了立法听证在中国的引入和发展过程。立法听证已经走过了理论化和法律化阶段,现在正在经历着实践化和理念化。听证要进一步发展,今后应该把重点放在鼓励人大各专门委员会在法律起草过程中多举行听证,实现听证“日常化”上。只有在实践中学习,才能使制度移植过程成为各个相关利益者共同学习的过程,才能使强制执行的规则升华为自愿遵从的共同理念。     

A functional analysis of congressional television spots, 1986–2000

Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on television advertising in congressional campaigns, relatively little research has examined the content purchased by those advertising dollars. This study applied the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to a purposive sample of television spots from U.S. House and Senate races from 1986 to 2000. Acclaims (self‐praise: 64%) outnumbered both attacks (criticisms: 35.5%) and defenses (refutation of attacks: 0.5%). Policy utterances comprised the bulk of the discussions in the ads (70%), while character utterances appeared less frequently (30%). Past deeds of candidates were the overwhelming focus of policy discussions (81%), while personal qualities dominated the discourse on character utterances (86%). Incumbents had a strong proclivity to acclaim (79%) more than challengers (51%) whereas challengers had a tendency to attack (49%) more than incumbents (21%). Incumbents were more likely to use past deeds to acclaim, whereas challengers used past deeds to attack.     

Planning a Congressional Archives at Loyola University Chicago

ABSTRACT

The Daniel Rostenkowski papers became the first Congressional papers collection at Loyola University Chicago in 1995. The papers of a high profile alumnus, the University Libraries decided to create a stand-alone archive for the collection. This article describes the history of the collection, several attempts to create a stand-alone archive, and the collecting policy that was eventually created to guide the development of the archive.     

教派主义与当代印度政治

由于历史上教派主义的影响和印度本身宗教和教派的多样性，教派主义对印度政治产生了深刻的影响。印度的议会选举、政党政治和地方分离主义等政治领域无不渗透着教派主义的因素。从印度教派主义存在的根源来看，既有殖民主义者留下的历史恶果，也与印度政府本身的政策失误有关。