This book provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the roles that political parties perform in twenty OECD nations. It finds that parties continue to exercise their traditional roles in organizing elections and structuring the government process, but that they are losing the allegiance of a public that is increasingly non-partisan and sceptical about political parties as institutions. These findings lead to a discussion about the changing nature of representative democracy as these nations enter the 21st Century.
This book provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the roles that political parties perform in twenty OECD nations. It finds that parties c...
This book evaluates why mixed-member systems have recently appealed to many countries with diverse electoral histories, and how well expectations for these systems have been met. Each major country that has adopted a mixed system is given two chapters, one on origins and one on consequences. The countries examined are Germany, New Zealand, Italy, Israel, Japan, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Hungary, and Russia. In addition, there are chapters on the prospects for a mixed-member system being adopted in Britain and Canada.
This book evaluates why mixed-member systems have recently appealed to many countries with diverse electoral histories, and how well expectations for ...
As the confusion over the ballots in Florida in 2000 demonstrated, American elections are complex and anything but user-friendly. This phenomenon is by no means new, but with the weakening of political parties in recent decades and the rise of candidate-centered politics, the high level of complexity has become ever more difficult for many citizens to navigate. Thus the combination of complex elections and the steady decline of the party system has led to a decline in voter turnout.
In this timely book, Martin Wattenberg confronts the question of what low participation rates mean...
As the confusion over the ballots in Florida in 2000 demonstrated, American elections are complex and anything but user-friendly. This phenomenon i...
"The major theme of Chapter 12, new to this edition, is the missed opportunities for the parties in the 1996 elections. The year started with a highly visible confrontation over the budget that could have revitalized the party coalitions if the issues had been carried over to the election. However, the candidate-centered campaign of 1996 ultimately did little to resolve these issues or to reinvigorate partisanship in the electorate. In spite of the opportunities for getting new voters to the polls created by the Motor Voter Act, voter turnout in 1996 was the lowest since 1924. Turning out...
"The major theme of Chapter 12, new to this edition, is the missed opportunities for the parties in the 1996 elections. The year started with a hig...
Every presidential election since 1964 has been won by the candidate backed by the most united party; yet as party unity has become more important to voting decisions, it has also become increasingly difficult to achieve. In his latest book, Martin Wattenberg offers an in-depth interpretation of the presidential elections of the 1980s, illuminating current theories of political behavior and how they operate in today's candidate-centered politics.
Wattenberg investigates the impact that political parties' declining relevance has had on presidential politics. As the parties'...
Every presidential election since 1964 has been won by the candidate backed by the most united party; yet as party unity has become more important...
