George Rabinowitz
Biographic Data
| ID | 995486 |
|---|---|
| NAME | George Rabinowitz |
| GIVEN NAMES | George |
| FAMILY NAME | Rabinowitz |
| SIGNATURE | RABINOWITZ G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1311 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1975 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| H-INDEX | 16 |
Simulating Models of Issue Voting
How should one analyze data when the underlying models being tested are statistically intractable? In this article, we offer a simulation approach that involves creating sets of artificial data with fully known generating models that can be meaningfully compared to real data. The strategy depends on constructing simulations that are well matched to the data against which they will be compared. Our particular concern is to consider concurrently ho…
Sophistry versus Science
There are three principal grounds for comparing directional and proximity theory-their predictions of evaluation, choice, and party system structure. When the theories have been compared on each of these criteria, the results have favored directional theory. Westholm's defense of the proximity model relies on replacing the formal models he purports to be testing with analytic models that incorporate subjective party placements. Subjective placeme…
Issues and Party Competition in the Netherlands
The Netherlands represents the prototypic case of a consociational democracy; in addition, the Dutch system has an extremely low threshold for obtaining representation in the legislature, making it open to challengers of any political persuasion. This article has two explicit goals: to compare two models of issue-based party choice, the directional and proximity models; and to understand the changing nature of electoral competition in the Netherl…
Committees of the American Political Science Association
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Issue competition in the 1993 Norwegian national election
On Attempting to Rehabilitate the Proximity Model
In a recent article, Westholm (1997) critiques the directional theory of issue voting and seeks to rehabilitate the proximity model. He contends that the theories must be assessed by how well they predict choice, and that in choice-based tests the proximity model is superior. Both of these contentions are wrong. Westholm's empirical results are artifacts of his use of an issue index. Once different issues are allowed to have different impact, dir…
Solving the paradox of nonconvergence
Symposium. The Directional Theory of Issue Voting
There are two distinct views on how candidate (or party) issue strategies influence mass evaluations. One is the view underlying the classic spatial model that the proximity between the voter's own issue positions and the positions taken by the candidates drives the evaluation. The other view is directionally motivated. In the directional model voters are seen as having only diffuse preferences for one side or the other on an issue, with voter su…
On `Correcting' for Rationalization
A Report on the Congressional Fellowship Program, 1994–95 and 1995–96
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Political Sophistication and Models of Issue Voting
Does political sophistication influence the way in which voters use issues in evaluating parties and candidates? We consider two models of mass-elite linkage: the traditional spatial model, which conceives of issues as continua of policy options, and the directional model, which conceives of issues as simple dichotomies. The traditional model is more cognitively demanding and is the implicit model of journalists and political elites. We would exp…
Issue Perceptions of Parties and Candidates
We examine how clearly citizens in Norway and the United States perceive the ideology and issue positions of parties and candidates. Following in the tradition of Campbell & Valen (1966) and Granberg & Holmberg (1988). we ask: Does the political system matter? We also consider the role of individual sophistication and whether sophistication has different consequences in the two cultural setting. Across a broad range of issues, we find that citize…
Ideology and party support in comparative perspective
From the original Downs (1957) conceptualization to the Enelow and Hinich (1984) reformulation, ideology has been the key organizing dimension for electoral competition in the spatial model. The unidimensional spatial model is best suited to responsible multiparty systems where left‐right position is known to be an important determinant of individual political behaviour. We contrast the traditional spatial model with the directional model recentl…
Ideology and candidate evaluation
Direction and Uncertainty in a Model of Issue Voting
We extend the directional theory of issue voting from a strictly deterministic model to a model which incorporates voter uncertainty. In the model, each voter has a probability of preferring a given direction of policy with regard to an issue and each party has a probability of pursuing a given policy direction if elected. We examine the implications of the theory for representation and develop the link between directional and proximity theory as…
Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting
Foreword 1. Introduction James M. Enelow and Melvin J. Hinich 2. Multiparty competition, entry, and entry deterrence in spatial models of elections Kenneth A. Shepsle and Ronald N. Cohen 3. Heresthetic and rhetoric in the spatial model William H. Riker 4. Spatial strategies when candidates have policy preferences Donald Wittman 5. A decade of experimental research on spatial models of elections and committees Richard D. McKelvey and Peter C. Orde…
New Players in an Old Game
This article compares two spatial models of party competition: (a) the traditional proximity model and (b) the directional model of voter choice. The article first lays out the differences between the two models in multiparty systems. The traditional proximity model makes no clear prediction about the spatial structure of political parties; the directional model predicts that optimal placement for parties will be along the circumference of a circ…
Issues and Party Support in Multiparty Systems
We investigate the relationship between party issue position and mass evaluation of political parties in multiparty systems. In so doing, we engage two competing theories of mass-elite linkage: the directional theory and the traditional spatial theory of elections. The alternate models are evaluated with survey data gathered in Norway in 1989. The data collection is unique in providing extensive information on the issue positions of all parties w…
A Comparative Spatial Analysis of European Party Systems
This article examines mass perceptions of political parties in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, West Germany, the Netherlands and France. For each country we construct a map in which the parties, voters, and demographic groups are located to provide a visual and spatial overview of the structure of electoral competition. Two dimensions are adequate for displaying the main ideological cleavages in each of the countries. In each case there is a strong left…
A Directional Theory of Issue Voting
From Stokes's (1963) early critique on, it has been clear to empirical researchers that the traditional spatial theory of elections is seriously flawed. Yet fully a quarter century later, that theory remains the dominant paradigm for understanding mass-elite linkage in politics. We present an alternative spatial theory of elections that we argue has greater empirical verisimilitude.Based on the ideas of symbolic politics, the directional theory a…
Award Recipients
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Political evocation and styles of candidate evaluation
The Dynamics of Structural Realignment
Governments render decisions on how resources and values are allocated in a society. In the United States, Congress is the institution in which most of the key allocating decisions are made. To the extent the U.S. political system is integrated, the coalitions that form around the issues debated in Congress should be reflected in the coalitions that support presidential candidates and those that support the major political parties. We formulate a…
The Power of the States in U.S. Presidential Elections
The Electoral College is a uniquely American political institution, yet its impact on both the power of the American states and the relative power of citizens living in different states is not well understood. Game theorists have broached the state power problem exclusively in terms of the size of each of the states. Empirical investigators have been less systematic, basing their analyses solely on which states have been close in a single electio…
The Structure of Presidential Elections and the Process of Realignment, 1944 to 1980
This paper examines the structure underlying U.S. presidential elections from 1944 to 1980. The authors argue that structure is essential if elections are to play the representational and accountability roles assigned to them in democratic theory. From the individual-level spatial model an aggregate voting model is developed that uses the fifty states as analytic units. The analysis shows that party and ideology provide considerable structure to …
A Directional Theory of Issue Voting
From Stokes's (1963) early critique on, it has been clear to empirical researchers that the traditional spatial theory of elections is seriously flawed. Yet fully a quarter century later, that theory remains the dominant paradigm for understanding mass-elite linkage in politics. We present an alternative spatial theory of elections that we argue has greater empirical verisimilitude.Based on the ideas of symbolic politics, the directional theory a…
Issues and Party Support in Multiparty Systems
We investigate the relationship between party issue position and mass evaluation of political parties in multiparty systems. In so doing, we engage two competing theories of mass-elite linkage: the directional theory and the traditional spatial theory of elections. The alternate models are evaluated with survey data gathered in Norway in 1989. The data collection is unique in providing extensive information on the issue positions of all parties w…
Political Sophistication and Models of Issue Voting
Does political sophistication influence the way in which voters use issues in evaluating parties and candidates? We consider two models of mass-elite linkage: the traditional spatial model, which conceives of issues as continua of policy options, and the directional model, which conceives of issues as simple dichotomies. The traditional model is more cognitively demanding and is the implicit model of journalists and political elites. We would exp…
Salience as a Factor in the Impact of Issues on Candidate Evaluation
The Primacy Principle
The ‘primacy principle’ comprises three assumptions about political orientations. The first is that they are learned during childhood. The second is that this childhood learning further shapes any subsequent modifications of them. The third is that the scale of any such subsequent modifications is small: fundamental political orientations tend to endure through life. We propose, using cohort analysis, to examine the extent to which three politica…
On Attempting to Rehabilitate the Proximity Model
In a recent article, Westholm (1997) critiques the directional theory of issue voting and seeks to rehabilitate the proximity model. He contends that the theories must be assessed by how well they predict choice, and that in choice-based tests the proximity model is superior. Both of these contentions are wrong. Westholm's empirical results are artifacts of his use of an issue index. Once different issues are allowed to have different impact, dir…
New Players in an Old Game
This article compares two spatial models of party competition: (a) the traditional proximity model and (b) the directional model of voter choice. The article first lays out the differences between the two models in multiparty systems. The traditional proximity model makes no clear prediction about the spatial structure of political parties; the directional model predicts that optimal placement for parties will be along the circumference of a circ…
On the Nature of Political Issues
From citizen evaluations of candidates we construct a spatial representation of the 1968 and 1972 elections. This representation differs from that of Weisberg and Rusk (1970) in that it includes both voters and candidates, enabling us to examine the mass-elite relationship. The spaces we recover provide an excellent overview of the two elections. However, contrary to expectations based on spatial theory, we find no political figure located in the…
A Comparative Spatial Analysis of European Party Systems
This article examines mass perceptions of political parties in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, West Germany, the Netherlands and France. For each country we construct a map in which the parties, voters, and demographic groups are located to provide a visual and spatial overview of the structure of electoral competition. Two dimensions are adequate for displaying the main ideological cleavages in each of the countries. In each case there is a strong left…
Solving the paradox of nonconvergence
An Introduction to Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling
Nonmetric multidimensional scaling methods are useful for spatially representing the interrelationships among a set of data objects. In this, they are similar to factor analytic methods. The assumptions and procedures associated with these methods are, however, somewhat different from those associated with factor analysis, and are more appropriate to certain political data. In this paper the logic underlying nonmetric multidimensional scaling met…
The Dynamics of Structural Realignment
Governments render decisions on how resources and values are allocated in a society. In the United States, Congress is the institution in which most of the key allocating decisions are made. To the extent the U.S. political system is integrated, the coalitions that form around the issues debated in Congress should be reflected in the coalitions that support presidential candidates and those that support the major political parties. We formulate a…
The Power of the States in U.S. Presidential Elections
The Electoral College is a uniquely American political institution, yet its impact on both the power of the American states and the relative power of citizens living in different states is not well understood. Game theorists have broached the state power problem exclusively in terms of the size of each of the states. Empirical investigators have been less systematic, basing their analyses solely on which states have been close in a single electio…
The Structure of Presidential Elections and the Process of Realignment, 1944 to 1980
This paper examines the structure underlying U.S. presidential elections from 1944 to 1980. The authors argue that structure is essential if elections are to play the representational and accountability roles assigned to them in democratic theory. From the individual-level spatial model an aggregate voting model is developed that uses the fifty states as analytic units. The analysis shows that party and ideology provide considerable structure to …
The Measurement of Public Opinion about Public Policy
The ability to measure mass attitudes on policy matters is intimately related to the format in which policy questions are presented to respondents. In this paper we examine a set of alternate question formats and contrast them with the seven-point format used in the more recent election studies of the Center for Political Studies (CPS) of the University of Michigan. The analysis is based on a sample of 280 respondents interviewed by the CPS in 19…
Sophistry versus Science
There are three principal grounds for comparing directional and proximity theory-their predictions of evaluation, choice, and party system structure. When the theories have been compared on each of these criteria, the results have favored directional theory. Westholm's defense of the proximity model relies on replacing the formal models he purports to be testing with analytic models that incorporate subjective party placements. Subjective placeme…
Ideology and party support in comparative perspective
From the original Downs (1957) conceptualization to the Enelow and Hinich (1984) reformulation, ideology has been the key organizing dimension for electoral competition in the spatial model. The unidimensional spatial model is best suited to responsible multiparty systems where left‐right position is known to be an important determinant of individual political behaviour. We contrast the traditional spatial model with the directional model recentl…
Direction and Uncertainty in a Model of Issue Voting
We extend the directional theory of issue voting from a strictly deterministic model to a model which incorporates voter uncertainty. In the model, each voter has a probability of preferring a given direction of policy with regard to an issue and each party has a probability of pursuing a given policy direction if elected. We examine the implications of the theory for representation and develop the link between directional and proximity theory as…
Simulating Models of Issue Voting
How should one analyze data when the underlying models being tested are statistically intractable? In this article, we offer a simulation approach that involves creating sets of artificial data with fully known generating models that can be meaningfully compared to real data. The strategy depends on constructing simulations that are well matched to the data against which they will be compared. Our particular concern is to consider concurrently ho…
Issues and Party Competition in the Netherlands
The Netherlands represents the prototypic case of a consociational democracy; in addition, the Dutch system has an extremely low threshold for obtaining representation in the legislature, making it open to challengers of any political persuasion. This article has two explicit goals: to compare two models of issue-based party choice, the directional and proximity models; and to understand the changing nature of electoral competition in the Netherl…
On `Correcting' for Rationalization
Ideology and candidate evaluation
Issue Perceptions of Parties and Candidates
We examine how clearly citizens in Norway and the United States perceive the ideology and issue positions of parties and candidates. Following in the tradition of Campbell & Valen (1966) and Granberg & Holmberg (1988). we ask: Does the political system matter? We also consider the role of individual sophistication and whether sophistication has different consequences in the two cultural setting. Across a broad range of issues, we find that citize…
Political evocation and styles of candidate evaluation
Issue competition in the 1993 Norwegian national election
An Introduction to Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling
Nonmetric multidimensional scaling methods are useful for spatially representing the interrelationships among a set of data objects. In this, they are similar to factor analytic methods. The assumptions and procedures associated with these methods are, however, somewhat different from those associated with factor analysis, and are more appropriate to certain political data. In this paper the logic underlying nonmetric multidimensional scaling met…
The Primacy Principle
The ‘primacy principle’ comprises three assumptions about political orientations. The first is that they are learned during childhood. The second is that this childhood learning further shapes any subsequent modifications of them. The third is that the scale of any such subsequent modifications is small: fundamental political orientations tend to endure through life. We propose, using cohort analysis, to examine the extent to which three politica…
On the Nature of Political Issues
From citizen evaluations of candidates we construct a spatial representation of the 1968 and 1972 elections. This representation differs from that of Weisberg and Rusk (1970) in that it includes both voters and candidates, enabling us to examine the mass-elite relationship. The spaces we recover provide an excellent overview of the two elections. However, contrary to expectations based on spatial theory, we find no political figure located in the…
Salience as a Factor in the Impact of Issues on Candidate Evaluation
The Measurement of Public Opinion about Public Policy
The ability to measure mass attitudes on policy matters is intimately related to the format in which policy questions are presented to respondents. In this paper we examine a set of alternate question formats and contrast them with the seven-point format used in the more recent election studies of the Center for Political Studies (CPS) of the University of Michigan. The analysis is based on a sample of 280 respondents interviewed by the CPS in 19…
The Structure of Presidential Elections and the Process of Realignment, 1944 to 1980
This paper examines the structure underlying U.S. presidential elections from 1944 to 1980. The authors argue that structure is essential if elections are to play the representational and accountability roles assigned to them in democratic theory. From the individual-level spatial model an aggregate voting model is developed that uses the fifty states as analytic units. The analysis shows that party and ideology provide considerable structure to …
The Power of the States in U.S. Presidential Elections
The Electoral College is a uniquely American political institution, yet its impact on both the power of the American states and the relative power of citizens living in different states is not well understood. Game theorists have broached the state power problem exclusively in terms of the size of each of the states. Empirical investigators have been less systematic, basing their analyses solely on which states have been close in a single electio…
The Dynamics of Structural Realignment
Governments render decisions on how resources and values are allocated in a society. In the United States, Congress is the institution in which most of the key allocating decisions are made. To the extent the U.S. political system is integrated, the coalitions that form around the issues debated in Congress should be reflected in the coalitions that support presidential candidates and those that support the major political parties. We formulate a…
Award Recipients
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Political evocation and styles of candidate evaluation
A Directional Theory of Issue Voting
From Stokes's (1963) early critique on, it has been clear to empirical researchers that the traditional spatial theory of elections is seriously flawed. Yet fully a quarter century later, that theory remains the dominant paradigm for understanding mass-elite linkage in politics. We present an alternative spatial theory of elections that we argue has greater empirical verisimilitude.Based on the ideas of symbolic politics, the directional theory a…
A Comparative Spatial Analysis of European Party Systems
This article examines mass perceptions of political parties in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, West Germany, the Netherlands and France. For each country we construct a map in which the parties, voters, and demographic groups are located to provide a visual and spatial overview of the structure of electoral competition. Two dimensions are adequate for displaying the main ideological cleavages in each of the countries. In each case there is a strong left…
Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting
Foreword 1. Introduction James M. Enelow and Melvin J. Hinich 2. Multiparty competition, entry, and entry deterrence in spatial models of elections Kenneth A. Shepsle and Ronald N. Cohen 3. Heresthetic and rhetoric in the spatial model William H. Riker 4. Spatial strategies when candidates have policy preferences Donald Wittman 5. A decade of experimental research on spatial models of elections and committees Richard D. McKelvey and Peter C. Orde…
New Players in an Old Game
This article compares two spatial models of party competition: (a) the traditional proximity model and (b) the directional model of voter choice. The article first lays out the differences between the two models in multiparty systems. The traditional proximity model makes no clear prediction about the spatial structure of political parties; the directional model predicts that optimal placement for parties will be along the circumference of a circ…
Issues and Party Support in Multiparty Systems
We investigate the relationship between party issue position and mass evaluation of political parties in multiparty systems. In so doing, we engage two competing theories of mass-elite linkage: the directional theory and the traditional spatial theory of elections. The alternate models are evaluated with survey data gathered in Norway in 1989. The data collection is unique in providing extensive information on the issue positions of all parties w…
Ideology and candidate evaluation
Direction and Uncertainty in a Model of Issue Voting
We extend the directional theory of issue voting from a strictly deterministic model to a model which incorporates voter uncertainty. In the model, each voter has a probability of preferring a given direction of policy with regard to an issue and each party has a probability of pursuing a given policy direction if elected. We examine the implications of the theory for representation and develop the link between directional and proximity theory as…
Issue Perceptions of Parties and Candidates
We examine how clearly citizens in Norway and the United States perceive the ideology and issue positions of parties and candidates. Following in the tradition of Campbell & Valen (1966) and Granberg & Holmberg (1988). we ask: Does the political system matter? We also consider the role of individual sophistication and whether sophistication has different consequences in the two cultural setting. Across a broad range of issues, we find that citize…
Ideology and party support in comparative perspective
From the original Downs (1957) conceptualization to the Enelow and Hinich (1984) reformulation, ideology has been the key organizing dimension for electoral competition in the spatial model. The unidimensional spatial model is best suited to responsible multiparty systems where left‐right position is known to be an important determinant of individual political behaviour. We contrast the traditional spatial model with the directional model recentl…
Political Sophistication and Models of Issue Voting
Does political sophistication influence the way in which voters use issues in evaluating parties and candidates? We consider two models of mass-elite linkage: the traditional spatial model, which conceives of issues as continua of policy options, and the directional model, which conceives of issues as simple dichotomies. The traditional model is more cognitively demanding and is the implicit model of journalists and political elites. We would exp…
A Report on the Congressional Fellowship Program, 1994–95 and 1995–96
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Symposium. The Directional Theory of Issue Voting
There are two distinct views on how candidate (or party) issue strategies influence mass evaluations. One is the view underlying the classic spatial model that the proximity between the voter's own issue positions and the positions taken by the candidates drives the evaluation. The other view is directionally motivated. In the directional model voters are seen as having only diffuse preferences for one side or the other on an issue, with voter su…
On `Correcting' for Rationalization
Committees of the American Political Science Association
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Issue competition in the 1993 Norwegian national election
Political science (26 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (23 works) · Law (23 works) · Law (23 works) · Politics (22 works) · Economics (19 works) · Positive economics (16 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies (14 works) · Sociology (11 works)