Articles of potential interest.....

Advocacy Organizations in the U.S. Political Process
Kenneth T. Andrews and Bob Edwards
Annual Review of Sociology
Vol. 30: 479-506 (Volume publication date August 2004)

Sources of Variation in the Frequency of Statewide Initiatives: The Role of Interest Group Populations
Frederick J. Boehmke
Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4. (Dec., 2005), pp. 565-575.
Boehmke finds that states with ballot initiatives have more interest groups. In particular, if there are a lot of interest groups that represent interest groups, there are less inititiaves passed, whereas interest groups that represent citizens without economic interests utilize the initiatve process more often.

The Effect of Direct Democracy on the Size and Diversity of State Interest Group Populations
Frederick J. Boehmke
The Journal of Politics, Vol. 64, No. 3. (Aug., 2002), pp. 827-844.
Boehmke proves that Interest groups that represent citizens as opposed to economic interests are more likely to have success with their ballot intitiatives.



Development Ballot Measures, Interest Group Endorsements, and the Political Geography of Growth Preferences
Elisabeth R. Gerber; Justin H. Phillips
Gerber finds that local development decisions made by voters appear to be strongly influenced by interest group participation as opposed to other practicalites or implications of the proposed policy,


Legislatures, Initiatives, and Representation: The Effects of State Legislative Institutions on Policy
Elisabeth R. Gerber
Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 2. (Jun., 1996), pp. 263-286.
Gerber discovers that the type of policies passed on the state level vary with regard to which intsitution was used to create them, i.e. the legislature or the ballot initiative.


The Initiative: A Comparative State Analysis and Reassessment of a Western Phenomenon
Charles M. Price
The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 2. (Jun., 1975), pp. 243-262.
Price studies how initiaves proivde a needed alternative to the state policy making process.

The California Initiative Process: Background and Perspective
J. Fred Silva
November 2000, 42 pp.
Resource Material for The Speaker's Commission on The California Initiative Process, November 2000.
History of initiatives in California as well as suggested reforms.


Interest Group Influence in the California Initiative Process
Elisabeth R. Gerber
November 1998, 34 pp.
According to Gerber, citizen-based interest groups are more adept at acheiving their goals through the ballot intitiate process and economic interest groups are more successful when they use their resources to fight initiative proposed by citizen interest groups.

PPIC Statewide Survey: Special Survey on Californians and the Initiative Process, October 2005
Mark Baldassare
October 2005, 34 pp.
Baldassare uses a survey to assess the dominant policy issues in California and how the institution of ballot intiatives affects policy and voter concern over these issues.

Just How Pluralist Is Direct Democracy? The Structure of Interest Group Participation in Ballot Proposition Elections
Shaun Bowler & Robert Hanneman
Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 4, 557-568 (2006)
Bowler and Hanneman look at the donors behind initiative campaigns and describe the campaign for an inititave in terms of the coalitions formed bewteen groups and the role played by large donors as well as powerful groups such as the teacher's unions and constuction industry.

A first stab at data

Grabbed a list of initiatives off the wonderful California Initiative Review web site and divided it roughly along issue categories to get an idea of the areas of policy that have had different propositions succeed and fail over the years. The data was supposed to be all initiatives since Nov. 1998 but some years were missing off the CIR website and it generally seemed incomplete - gotta double check that with the Cali Secretary of State when I get a chance. I didn't work too hard to categorize each proposition yet either because I just want to get an idea of where to narrow my focus. Some of the propositions seemed like they could be in more than one issue category, i.e. environmental AND property rights. I didn't look at the actual bills yet so if I decide to use this stuff it will need to be more officially categorized, likely according to some political scientist's method described in some paper somewhere....not gotta do all that 'till I decide if its even the direction I'm going in. I bet a more complete/exact version of this kind of chart is already published, I'll find it if I need it.....

Partial Annotated Bibliography

Baldassare, Mark. A California State of Mind. Berkley: University of California Press, 2002.

The author discusses initiatives in general and specific terms with regard to the 2000 elections.

Cahn, Matthew Alan, H. Eric Schockman and David M. Shafie. Rethinking California: Politics and Policy in the Golden State. New Jersey: Prentice Hallo, 2000.

These authors describe the initiative process and include a table that lists initiatives and referenda in California by subject and by decade.

DeBow, Ken and John C. Syer. Power and Politics in California. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.

This book explains basic elements of the California political system and gives an overview of how initiatives have become the primary way of passing laws in California.

Gerston, Larry N. and Terry Christensen. Recall! California’s Political Earthquake. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2004.

This book explained how business interests supported Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign for governor.

Janiskee, Brian P. and Ken Masugi. Democracy in California. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.

This book discusses the ways in which California interest groups take action to influence policy. The authors discuss the five main areas of interest group politics and they also talk about how factions are good for democracy from a Madisonian perspective.


California secretary of state
www.ss.ca.gov

california chamber of commerce
www.calchamber.com

Tenative Research Proposal for Thesis

From syllabus:

*Research proposal (5 pages)*

Your research design will include a discussion of your topic, your research questions or hypothesis, and the methods you plan to use to study your topic. In discussing your methodolgy you should distinguish between the use of primary and secondary source material.

*Discussion of Topic*

In the early part of the 20th century California state politics was heavily influenced by railroad companies. In response to this widely perceived corruption, a Progressive movement emerged. One of the most successful and enduring aspects of that movement gave voters the ability to participate directly in state politics via referenda, ballot initiatives, and recall elections.

Referenda, ballot initiatives, and recall elections are often referred to as direct democracy because they are efforts that can be proposed by anyone who collects enough signatures of registered voters. They extend the opportunity to create policy from elected officials to individuals and groups. Once on the ballot, the public then votes on the proposed action. This can happen during a primary or general election.

A referendum is when the public is asked to vote on an action taken previously by the state legislature. The only type of referendum to be placed on the ballot by voters is the referendum proposal, which asks voters to approve or disprove of a specific policy that the legislature passed. A constitutional referendum seeks to modify the California constitution and a mandatory referendum asks voters to approve bond measures. These two types of referenda are placed on the ballot by the state legislature.

A recall asks voters to state whether a specified government official is doing a good job or if not, to vote on a replacement. The most recent and likely most famous recall occured when then-Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected as his replacement in 2003.

The ballot initiative is a way for voters to try to pass a new law or amend the state constitution. This percent differs whether the initiative, also known as a proposition, is intended to be a statute or an amendment to the state constitution. A ballot proposal to amend the constitution requires 8% of registered voters to sign a petition. A ballot proposal intended to create a statue just requires signatures from 5% of registered voters. While elements of direct democracy that arose out of the Progressive movement were intended to take power from controlling business interests and return power to voters, initiatives have since become one of the main ways to create policy in California.

While an individual could try to collect the required number of signatures to put a proposition on the ballot, it is far more likely that this effort will be carried out by a particular group of individuals who share a common goal. California is one state where the strength of political parties are weak in comparison to the strength of interest groups (Janiskee, 39).

James Madison, one of the original framers of the United States constitution, set forth an argument in favor of interest group politics in the Federalist papers. In Federalist #10 he theorized that if voters were split between many interests and identities, it would be very difficult for factions to gain power or pass laws that didn't appeal to a broad sector of the electorate.

However this was before political campaigns relied on television and radio to get out a message. Today these elements of new media politics can be quite costly and as a result the funding an interest group receives can impact its ability to influence the public on a particular proposition. The power of an interest group consists of "their varied and creative use of many forms of political action" (Debow, 54). Funding underlies all of these forms of action and is one way to evaluate the power of an interest group. The number of members in a group and the extent to which the group is highly organized also impacts its ability to take political action. Together these factors, with an emphasis on funding, can define which groups are seen as powerful. Not all interest groups are equal in terms of funding, membership, and extent of organization or how they utilize their resources. Sometimes interest groups build coalitions to get a proposal passed. Other times they rely on grassroots activity, campaign finance, and direct lobbying to get voters to vote a particular way. Well-funded or not, interest groups experience varying degrees of success in aligning voter behavior on a particular proposal to their agendas.

Top interest groups in terms of activity include local and regional governments, health, industry, finance, and education (Janiskee, 48)

Some studies have found that the involvement of powerful interest groups in ballot initiative campaigns takes away from the intentions of the Progressive party because the most powerful interest groups can afford to campaign more extensively and thus get what they want more easily than smaller, poorer interest groups. These studies argue that this effect undermines Madison's theory of pluralism. One book I came across stated that "the increasing use of the initiative by deep-pocket interests threatens to destabilize the democratic equilibrium Madison was so concerned about" (Cahn, 118). This line of reasoning would lead me to believe that California politics are moving away from a Madisonian construction of pluralism and towards a system where policy is dictated by the most powerful interest groups.

However, this may not be the case at all. Another team of researchers were more idealistic, explaining that "Madison advocated a commercial republic of many 'factions,' so that an otherwise decent nation such as the United States would have the best chance to survive. There is nothing in Madison to make us believe that he would not have wished the same for the State of California" (Janiskee, 47). These researchers found that the groups cancel each other out in most cases of initiatives, meaning only the proposals that truly enjoy broad support across the electorate pass.

*Research Questions/Hypothesis*

I have decided to study the ballot initiative because I want to know how particular interest groups in California use this element of direct democracy to acheive their policy goals. I am curious to see if the ballot initiative process is manipulated by interest groups to get what they want.


I plan to study how financial resources, membership, and organization affect the ability of an interest group to influence voter behavior on propositions centered around a particular issue or area of policy. I will use the axes of finanical resources, membership levels, extent of organization and degree of political involvement to determine which interest groups are considered powerful actors in California politics. I want to know specifically how these so-called powerful interest groups are able to translate their resources into power at the ballot box. Essentially I want to establish the the degree to which a particular interest group can use the initiative process to achieve its goals. I want to know which groups truly hold power over the electorate, and why, within a specific area of policy.



*Methodology*

To answer this question I plan to study recent initiatives that were put on statewide ballots by one particular set of interests. Each of these initiatives must fall within the same area of policy and have received a fair amount of attention from the same well-funded, well-organized interest groups. Out of this group, I am going to look closely at initiatives that have varied in terms of approval received by voters. Controlling for the industry of the interest group and level of attention the group gave each initiative in terms of reaching out to voters will reduce the difference between each initiative to voter behavior, which I will then compare against the efforts and resources of the interest groups expended in each election.

From "How to Write a B. A. Thesis" by Charles Lipson, Chapter 4, pgs. 77-78:

Writing a Thesis Proposal

In clear, concise language, your proposal should explain

-what your main question or topic is:

Interest groups which support ballot initiatives and why some of these initiatives pass and others fail when they each recieve a fair amount of support by powerful interest groups.

-why it matters

This topic reflects the importance of the ballot initiative in California politics. It also is relevant for understanding the degree to which powerful interest groups can affect state policy through their support of ballot initiatives.

-how you plan to approach the analysis

I want to find about three initiatives that all received a lot of support by a specific set of interest groups in California. Ideally one or two of these initiatives will have passed and the third will have failed, or vice versa. I am going to analyze the interest groups in the context of their funding and organization. I am going to analyze the initiaves in light of their success or failure to be voted into law.

One way to explain your topic's importance is to describe current debates surrounding it and how leading scholars treat it.


TIP: Your thesis proposal should outline your topic, its importance, and your approach to studying it. It should pose one or two major questions, but it does not need to answer them. The thesis itself will do that.

Also mention what data you will use. Do you plan to use case studies, interviews, large databases, original documents, or some combination of these?

I will use a variety of primary and secondary sources to examine the organization, activities and funding of interest groups. I plan to research using books and journal articles as well as primary data on specific groups and policies taken from the internet.

thinking about a topic

Thesis Ideas

What do various experts consider to be the influences on the current political situation in cali?
Whatis the current political sitch in cali according to various experts and what do they think has influenced this?

1. What factors potentially contribute to nature of cali politics?

progressive movement
institutional arrangements
geography
development
pluralism
population growth
ethnic/racial diversity
shift in voting patterns
media

Large Economy/Multiple Industries → competing interest groups
Varied Geography → power struggle over distribution/protection of natural resources
Population growth → changing demographics?
Structure of State Gov’t
Role/relative power of Exec, Leg, Judicial
Issues of Direct Democracy →Initiaves/Referendums/recall
How do institutional arrangements influence policymaking?
i.e. budget’s creation/function/impact on public policy/opinion of govt
effect of term limits on policymaking
propositions that limit taxation i.e. prop 13
How do/Do all these factors relate to/influence:
the recall election?
voter behavior in recent elections?
Political parties
What about local gov’ts and county gov’ts? What is their role?
City vs county govts roles/arrangements
Compare SF to LA?