OLD APPROACHES AND NEW CHALLENGES IN LEGISLATIVE ELECTION RESEARCH

This review of research over the past decade on legislative elections employs the concept of electoral responsiveness-the link between voter s' choices and legislatures' decisions. The article examines the field 's three main approaches to responsiveness: research on collective cho ice, which focuses on how the electorate evaluates the legislature's p erformance, including its handling of the economy; research on competi tive change, which primarily analyzes incumbency and challenger streng th as factors that delimit how voters influence the composition of the legislature from one election to the next; and research on voter pref erences, which details primarily how voters' commitments to party and class shape their reactions to candidates and parties. The study concl udes that, although legislative election research is voluminous, the f ield lacks a strong theoretical and comparative focus within which man y questions on responsiveness could best be answered.