This conference among U.S. congressional scholars and scholars specializing on legislatures outside the United States will draw the implications of recent research findings on the U.S. Congress for research on legislatures outside the United States especially in the emerging democracies. Papers are presented assessing the results of research on seven major aspects of legislative behavior. The papers are written to inform congressional scholars of findings on other legislatures and to inform students of non-American legislatures of the models and methods developed by congressional scholars. The objective of the conference is to overcome a series of recognized obstacles to cross-national legislative research at a moment witnessing a remarkable proliferation of democratic legislatures and parliaments. The result of the conference will be a volume of papers and commentaries to facilitate cross-national legislative research employing equivalent concepts and measures.
