Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress

Craig Volden is Professor of Public Policy and Politics, with appointments in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics, at the University of Virginia. He has published numerous articles in such journals as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, and Publius: The Journal of Federalism. Volden is co-author (with David W. Brady) of Revolving Gridlock: Politics and Policy from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush (2006). Alan E. Wiseman is Associate Professor of Political Science, with a secondary appointment in Law, and co-director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Theoretical Politics. He is the author of The Internet Economy: Access, Taxes, and Market Structure (2000).

• 1. Introduction; 2. Measuring legislative effectiveness; 3. The keys to majority-party effectiveness in Congress; 4. A tale of three minorities; 5. Gridlock and effective lawmaking, issue by issue; 6. The habits of highly effective lawmakers; 7. The future of legislative effectiveness.

'This groundbreaking research shows the value of having more women in Congress. Among other important findings, Volden and Wiseman clearly show that women more effectively build coalitions across party lines and focus more directly on getting things done. That has certainly been my experience throughout the past two decades, and it reinforces what I've said all along: we need more women in public office. The answer to the partisan gridlock that currently plagues congress can be found in a very simple question: where are the women?' Carolyn Maloney, United States Representative (Democrat - New York)