The Spread of Symbolic Policies: Juneteenth, Interests, and Representation in the U.S. States.
Decades of policy diffusion research support the notion that governments' policy adoptions are conditional on other governments' policy choices. However, the theory of policy diffusion has only been tested on substantive rather than symbolic policies. This is surprising because ceremonial bills and...
| Publicado en: | Political Research Quarterly Vol. 78; no. 4; pp. 1286 - 1302 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Sage Publications Inc.
Dec2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=188720484&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 188720484 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10659129 PTQ jtl: Political Research Quarterly issn: 10659129 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2025 vid: 78 iid: 4 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. artinfo: ui: 188720484 10.1177/10659129251355262 ppf: 1286 ppct: 16 formats: tig: atl: The Spread of Symbolic Policies: Juneteenth, Interests, and Representation in the U.S. States. aug: au: Jordan, Marty P. Scott, Jamil S. affil: Department of Political Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA Department of Government, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA su: United States Representative government Ethnic relations Government policy Policy sciences State governments Civil rights Juneteenth Policy diffusion sug: subj: Representative government Ethnic relations Government policy Policy sciences State governments Civil rights United States Juneteenth Policy diffusion keyword: commemorative policies emulation policy diffusion symbolic policies commemorative policies emulation policy diffusion symbolic policies ab: Decades of policy diffusion research support the notion that governments' policy adoptions are conditional on other governments' policy choices. However, the theory of policy diffusion has only been tested on substantive rather than symbolic policies. This is surprising because ceremonial bills and resolutions can comprise a sizable portion of legislation proposed and passed by national and subnational governments. We leverage the spread of Juneteenth commemorative policies across the U.S. states since 1980 to exploit this central theory of policy change. Relying on the emulation mechanism, we find that states face external normative and social pressures to commemorate Juneteenth and mimic prior adopters' policy choices, particularly their ideological peers. States' internal contexts also matter. States' civil rights groups and racial environments explain how states memorialize Juneteenth. Further, Black political representation moderates the negative impact of racial resentment on enacting these measures. This research holds significant implications for the study of policy diffusion, minority politics, legislative processes, and political representation. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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