Powerful cross-currents of both decline and resurgence have been affecting American political parties over the past several decades. Is the era of decline that began in the late 1960s over and are the parties in a new era of rebuilding? In what direction are the parties headed and what does it mean for a healthy and well-functioning democracy? American Political Parties brings together a distinguished team of contributors to explore these questions. Students are exposed to original, state-of-the-art research on the parties that is written to be accessible and engaging.Presenting both historical and contemporary material on the changing U.S. parties, the book offers a balanced portrait and a wide variety of views concerning the continuing weaknesses of the parties and their concurrent signs of revitalization. Essays examine three important elements of parties the parties in the mass public, the parties as electoral and political organizations, and the parties as governing groups. Two themes recur throughout the first deals with party change (specifically realignment and dealignment) and the second with party responsibility in a democratic government. The concluding chapter places the contibutors' various findings and viewpoints in perspective. It offers several theories to help explain why the parties seem to be following their dual paths of development and considers the implications of this state of affairs for the future of American democracy.
In the wake of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the Christian Right expected major victories in the 1998 elections. Instead, many of its allies lost close contests, and the movement was seen as a liability in some high-profile campaigns. This book analyzes the role of the movement in fourteen key states, from Maine to California.
This volume chronicles almost two decades of American elections marked by a politics of disappointment. Combining political science, history and literature, it addresses the varied electoral trends: distrust of government; yearning for a renewal of the American dream; decreasing voter turnout; desire for self-government; and debate over the future shape of political conflict. New chapters in this edition include the latest research on national elections with up-to-date analyses of the 1996 and 1998 elections and an evaluation of the impeachment.
Harding to Eisenhower-A Handbook of American Presidential Election Statistics
The first volume of America at the Polls covers elections from Warren G. Harding's landslide in 1920 through Dwight D. Eisenhower's second term. The front section contains national summary tables of the state-by-state and Electoral College vote for each election. A chapter for each state follows, beginning with a summary of the statewide vote and Electoral College, a county outline map, and the county-by-county details of each election. Sizable votes for third party candicates are also provided, as are summaries of presidential elections.
The Decline of Participatory Democracy and the Emergence of Modern American Politics
Public involvement in the electoral process has all but disappeared. Nonvoting is systemic in American Politics. It was not always this way. With the integration of America's mass electorate into the electoral system in the 1830s, voters were intensely participatory and remained mobilised in the nineteenth century.
To what extent are the techniques of campaigning and media management critical to the outcome of modern elections? This book brings together a group of leading scholars to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role and impact of political communications during election campaigns. They set the context of election campaigning in Britain, and the ......
The Triumph of Campaign-Centered Politics is an incisive overview of contemporary campaigns and elections and the role parties play in them. Anyone looking to better understand and identify important features of current campaigns and elections, and to place these features in a historical context, will find the book invaluable. Drawing on extensive interviewing and archival research, Menefee-Libey argues that campaign-centered politics is now the dominant force in American elections with serious implications for representative democracy.
British Parties and Voters in Long-term Perspective
Did Labour's landslide victory in 1997 mark a critical watershed in British party politics? Did the radical break with 18 years of Conservative rule reflect a fundamental change in the social and ideological basis of British voting behaviour? Critical Elections brings together leading scholars of parties, elections and voting behaviour to ......
