The Policy Polarization of Party Activists in the United States

This article investigates how a key stratum of the partisan elite—party activists—have been positioned across time and policy issues. We examine the extent to which activists have polarized symmetrically or asymmetrically and find that only on the issue of abortion has one party’s activists (Republicans) polarized notably more than the other’s. The article also analyzes party activist proximity to the mass public’s policy preferences and finds that Democrats are consistently closer to the public on economic issues, and Republicans are consistently closer on a subset of non-economic issues. Our findings suggest the need for more nuanced theories of party activism and polarization along with providing a useful lens through which to view party electoral competition.

Д. Лувсаншарав — бывший монах и партийный деятель

Introduction. In the 20th century, Mongolia witnessed the emergence of a number of party activists and statesmen whose formally differing life paths and careers largely resulted in essentially similar repressions experienced. Those included a group of party executives with monastic backgrounds and good command of foreign languages. And it is D. Luvsansharav who had spent twenty years in Mӧrӧn Monastery that attracts special attention. It is unknown what (and whether at all) he had studied at the monastic college ― a largest one in the country ― but his party comrades (and himself) considered him to be an expert in the Lamaist question. On graduation from the Communist University of the Toilers of the East (1928–1929), he begins a political career, the pinnacle of which being his work at the Lamaist Commission that primarily aimed to eradicate reactionist Lamaist elements (i.e., the whole of Buddhist clergy as such), and his participation in the Plenipotentiary Commission (a so called ‘troika’) that put to death hundreds and even thousands of citizens, destroyed some precious items of material and traditional culture. Goals. The paper seeks to reveal the ex-monk’s impact in party arrangements, interpret certain personal motives to have underlain the transformation. Materials. The work analyzes materials stored at the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service and contained in Mongolia in Documents of the Comintern (vols. 1, 2), other scholarly sources. Results. The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 uncovered the lack of competent personnel which lead to a search of ‘individuals suitable for administrative, economic, and military work’ not only among commoners but also monks and nobility, resulting in that the recruited executives differed both in skills and worldviews. The context proved favorable enough to D. Luvsansharav who ― according to archival notes ― was quite an ambiguous and contradictive figure. His party comrades and official secretaries of the Eastern Executive Committee of the Communist International characterized him as a definitely ambitious but short-tempered, awkward, and irresolute person in a supporting role. However, the ex-cleric became a leading party activist, and such a dramatic change in his life and career may have stemmed from religious underachievement, dissatisfaction with the position he had held in the large Mongolian monastery, or some psychological aspects. Still, the harsh and severe period of national history could actually give rise to changes in his ideological views and mentality (when personal benefits and career opportunities were viewed by some as priorities).

Does policy motivation drive party activism? A study of party activists in three Asian democracies

Studies of party activism highlight that party activists are driven by various motivations and that these affect their level of activism. However, it remains unclear whether policy-motivated activists are more engaged in party activities than those motivated by other incentives and whether the motivation–activism link varies with party characteristics. This article investigates these questions by focusing on political actors linking parties and voters in the local community. I use a party activist survey data set collected during recent national election campaigns in three Asian young democracies: Taiwan, Korea, and Mongolia. The results demonstrated the prominence of policy motivation as an impetus for activists’ intraparty commitment. I also found that the positive effect of policy motivation is especially robust in small parties, while it is muted in large parties and that party membership increases the probability of intraparty commitment, challenging the widely held belief that formal membership is pointless in Asian parties.

IN THE SHADOW OF A GREAT PERSONALITY (THE FATE OF PANA STYAZHKINA – AN UNOFFI CIAL WIFE OF V.V. KUYBYSHEV)

The article is based on archival documents and devoted to the life and activities of Praskovya Afanasyevna Styazhkina, a convinced revolutionary, party activist and stateswoman who remained in the shadow of a great personality - Valerian Kuibyshev, being his unofficial wife and mother of his son, Vladimir Valerianovich Kuibyshev, born in a Samara prison. The author distinguish three stages of Styazhkina’s life, in Vyatka, Samara, and Moscow.

Florence Jaffray Harriman

This chapter looks at the tenure of Florence Jaffray Harriman, minister to Norway (1937–1941). Harriman was a prominent New York City socialite and Democratic Party activist. President Franklin Roosevelt agreed to send the sixty-six-year-old Harriman to Norway because it was a small, neutral country unlikely to become involved in a European war. When World War II broke out in 1939, Harriman was caught in the midst of it. She performed admirably in the episode involving the City of Flint, a US merchant vessel captured by the Germans, and even more so when the Nazis invaded Norway in April 1940. Harriman risked her life trying to keep up with the fleeing Norwegian leadership, which was being pursued by German forces. Her performance in the face of such danger earned her widespread praise, further strengthening the case for female ambassadors.

Perle S. Mesta

This chapter tells the story of Perle Mesta, US minister to Luxembourg (1949–1953). A wealthy widow, Mesta was a political fundraiser, businesswoman, and National Woman’s Party activist before becoming Washington, DC’s leading society hostess after World War II. She was close to President Harry S. Truman, who, lobbied by India Edwards, sent her to Luxembourg as a reward for her important work for his 1948 campaign. Her appointment became the butt of jokes and inspired the hit musical comedy Call Me Madam, but she performed fairly well considering her limitations and the sometimes fierce hostility she faced from career diplomats. She applied her party-giving instincts to her post, reaching out to average Luxembourgers and becoming a major celebrity to them. Official Luxembourg was ambivalent, finding it difficult to take her seriously and yet enjoying the attention, top-level access, and enhanced international status that her appointment provided.

Preface

This book is about the women who went to my grandmother’s funeral. On January 2, 1933, Belle Lindner Israels Moskowitz, adviser and political strategist to former New York State governor Alfred E. Smith, died unexpectedly of an embolism. Her funeral at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan attracted some three thousand mourners. Among them were dozens of prominent men, many of them members of New York’s political and reform elites. Dozens of prominent women were there too. Newspapers listed some of them: Eleanor Roosevelt, Democratic Party activist and wife of President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt; Frances Perkins, New York State commissioner of labor, soon-to-be US secretary of labor, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet; Pauline Morton Sabin, a Republican and founder of the National Organization of Women for Prohibition Reform, a key player in winning repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment; popular novelist, screenwriter, and civic activist Fannie Hurst; Jane Hoey, head of the New York City Welfare Council and later a bureau head in the Social Security Administration; and attorney Anna Moscowitz Kross, soon to be one of Manhattan’s first women magistrates and twenty years later the city’s commissioner of corrections....