The Long War over Party Structure: Democratic Representation and Policy Responsiveness in American Politics

ISBN-13: 9781108718868 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 208 str.

Madison) Byron E. Shafer (University of Wisconsin;Regina L. Wagner (University of Alabama)

Opis

A long-standing debate in American politics is about the proper structure for political parties and the relative power that should be afforded to party professionals versus issue activists. In this book, Byron E. Shafer and Regina L. Wagner draw systematically on new data and indexes to evaluate the extent to which party structure changed from the 1950s on, and what the consequences have been for policy responsiveness, democratic representation, and party alignment across different issue domains. They argue that the reputed triumph of volunteer parties since the 1970s has been less comprehensive than the orthodox narrative assumes, but that the balance of power did shift, with unintended and sometimes perverse consequences. In the process of evaluating its central questions, this book gives an account of how partisan alignments evolved with newly empowered issue activists and major post-war developments from the civil rights movement to the culture wars.

Recenzje

'The book is clear, accessible, well organized, and well researched. Required reading for scholars interested in the history of US political parties.' C. Kinsella, Choice

Spis treści

Preface to a long war: party structure and democratic representation in American politics; 1. Party structure in theory and in practice: organized parties, volunteer parties, and their evolution; 2. Party structure and representational impact: public preferences on social welfare and civil rights; 3. Party structure and representational impact: cultural values, comprehensive ideologies, and national security; 4. A conclusion to the long war? Party structure and policy responsiveness; Afterword: a newer 'new politics'? Party structure in modern dress.