http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
the politics of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The research reported here develops an explanation for dynamic changes in voting rights politics and enforcement. I present a framework of policymaking in which enforcement priorities affect issue definition and agenda dynamics on the local level in ways that ultimately lead to a redefinition of voting rights policy. To evaluate the validity of this argument, I examine federal enforcement decisions and national measures of public attention from 1965 to 1993. I also use secondary sources and personal interviews to examine voting rights politics in three Texas cities. Key findings, that support the framework developed in this dissertation, include: (1) prior to dramatic shifts in the enforcement, non-stochastic triggering events explained agenda dynamics; (2) issue redefinition followed the politicization of enforcement leading to the expansion of a negative issue definition that first emerged on the local level; (3) local government and citizen capacity can be enhanced through federal policymaking.