Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Measuring State Legislative Professionalism: The Squire Index Revisited

2007; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 7; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/153244000700700208

1946-1607

Peverill Squire,

Political Influence and Corporate Strategies

Abstract In this article, I revisit a widely used measure of legislative professionalism that I developed over a decade ago (Squire 1992a). I argue that professionalism has different implications for legislators than for legislatures and that the concept is distinct from careerism. I then discuss the mechanics of compiling the measure, its reliability and validity, and potential criticism of the measure. Finally, I provide scores on the measure for 1979, 1986, 1996, and 2003, as well as scores for 1979 and 2003 for a revised measure that is theoretically appropriate for use in dynamic analyses.