The Etiology of Partisan Competition

1983 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 691-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel C. Patterson ◽  
Gregory A. Caldeira
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
State Level ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
American States ◽  
Political Competitiveness ◽  
Partisan Competition ◽  
North And South ◽  
Local Party

In this inquiry, we focus upon the question, “Why are political parties more competitive in some states than they are in others?” We have measured partisan competition as the closeness between the two major political parties in the results of state-level elections, and we have chosen to analyze elections in American states in the 1970s. To account for variations among the states on the dimension of partisan competitiveness, we formulate and present four discrete lines of reasoning—including socio-demographics, urbanization, diversity, and the strength of party organizations. We test each of these avenues of explanation in turn, always taking into account the watershed between North and South in partisan competition. The results vindicate the utility of our general approach, although we do find that each of the four modes of explanation is wanting in some respect. In a full-blown multivariate context, we report that educational levels and urbanization do influence variations among states in partisan competition. Equally compelling and perhaps more interesting, the strength and activism of local party organizations in the states profoundly affect political competitiveness, even when we take stark regional differences into consideration.

Rural Free Delivery as a Critical Test of Alternative Models of American Political Development

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (01) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
Samuel Kernell
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
Government Contracts ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Critical Test ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Career Moves ◽  
Local Party

During roughly the half-century straddling the turn of the twentieth century, America’s national government underwent a dramatic transformation. It proceeded on two fronts, politics and administration. At the beginning of the era, politicians were deeply enmeshed in a system of patronage and graft reflecting their indebtedness to the local and state political parties without whose support their careers would have languished. Local party organizations recruited and sponsored candidates, ran election campaigns, and directed subsequent career moves among its cadre of politicians. In return, these politicians used their offices to stoke the party machine with a steady supply of patronage appointments and government contracts. By the end of the era, a variety of state and national reforms had effectively dismantled the patronage system.

scholarly journals Strategic Canvassing by Political Parties, 1952-1990

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 213-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter W. Wielhouwer
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
National Election ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Local Party

The activities of political parties, and particularly local party organizations, are geared toward cultivating the relationship between the electorate and those who govern. This paper adds to the theoretical and empirical literature on party activities by focusing on one of the primary mechanisms by which parties attempt to stimulate political participation on behalf of their candidates: the party canvass. Using the 1952-90 National Election Studies, I examine the contacting patterns of the two major U.S. parties, and argue that political parties contact individuals in the electorate not randomly, but strategically, targeting their canvassing efforts to specific individuals and groups within the electorate. This can only be done imperfectly, but with technological increases over the last 40 years, the parties have become somewhat more efficient in their contacting activities and in their ability to target such contacts.

Closed Primaries and Party Support in Congress

1985 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-352
Author(s):  
Steven H. Haeberle
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Primary Elections ◽  
American States ◽  
The Common ◽  
Party Support ◽  
Traditional Patterns

Nominating procedures in the American states rely on three types of primary elections: closed, open, and blanket. These systems vary with regard to the extent partisanship is injected into the process. The data show that members of Congress with the highest levels of party support in the House of Representatives are elected in states using closed primaries. However, this relationship between partisanship in office and use of the closed primary appears to result from the common determination of these two variables by regional differences and traditional patterns of interparty competition at the state level. In other words, the state systems that value partisanship the most will likely have closed primaries and elect representatives more likely to support their party.

From Circles to Parties. Genesis of Party System in Russia in the Beginning of 20th Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 464-470
Author(s):  
Kirill A. Solovyov
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Party System ◽  
Revolutionary Era ◽  
The Public ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
In The Beginning

The article is devoted to the general patterns of political parties formation in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. They were preceded by proto-party organizations that were far from being ideologically monolithic. Under the conditions of rapid differentiation of political forces, the existing alliances were often accidental and situational. They hung on to the legacy of the pre-revolutionary era, when the public was just “learning” to talk about politics, and the boundaries between different ideological structures were quite rather relative.

The Democratic and Republican Governors Associations and the Nationalization of American Party Politics, 1961–1968

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Anthony Sparacino
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
State Level ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
State Governments ◽  
National Party ◽  
Government Programs ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Party Building ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
American Party

Abstract This article examines the origins and early activities of the Democratic and Republican Governors Associations (DGA and RGA, respectively) from the RGA's initial founding in 1961 through the 1968 national nominating conventions. I argue that the formations of these organizations were key moments in the transition from a decentralized to a more integrated and nationally programmatic party system. The DGA and RGA represent gubernatorial concern for and engagement in the development of national party programs and the national party organizations. Governors formed these groups because of the increasing importance of national government programs on the affairs of state governments and the recognition on the part of governors that national partisan politics was having critical effects on electoral outcomes at the state level, through the reputations of the national parties. To varying extents, the governors used these organizations to promote the national parties and contributed to national party-building efforts and the development of national party brands.

scholarly journals Personality Goes a Long Way

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Costa Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
The Third ◽  
Strong Trend ◽  
The Media ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Personalization Of Politics

This article reviews books which test the personalization of politics, looking at different dimensions of the growing importance of leaders over time, namely for political parties, in electoral behaviour and in the media. Only recently have wide-ranging comparative longitudinal studies on leaders been carried out. The personalization thesis is not equally demonstrated across all dimensions. Indeed, we find something of a puzzle: There is no strong trend towards personalization of party organizations, whereas in electoral behaviour the evidence points to the increasing use by voters of leaders as heuristics. This attests to the decline of the importance of parties. The personalization of media may be the mechanism which explains the change in voting behaviour, and the third and final section of the review looks into that arena. We conclude with some suggestions on further research on the personalization of politics.

The Effect of Political Parties on the Distribution of Income in the American States: 1917-2011

2018 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 895-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Widestrom ◽  
Thomas J. Hayes ◽  
Christopher Dennis
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
American States ◽  
Distribution Of Income
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