Charles S. Mack

When Political Parties Die (eBook, PDF)

A Cross-National Analysis of Disalignment and Realignment

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

This book presents a theory of political disalignment and a revised theory of party realignment, using four case studies from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Italy to illustrate these concepts.

Why do major political parties die? The shelf life of minor parties in democracies tends to be short, but major parties tend to be highly durable. The Democratic Party of the United States and the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom have been going strong for two centuries. Major parties perpetuate themselves by maintaining a consistent ideology on major national issues, even at the cost of periodic defeats at the polls. In American politics, ideological polarization maintains the vitality of the two major parties and renders them almost immune to threats from new parties, even as it impedes consensus and compromise on public issues.

Spectacular instances of sudden death in major parties have nevertheless occurred in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy, and they all exhibit similar characteristics. The fatal event-which author Charles S. Mack calls "disalignment"-occurs when a schism opens between party leaders and traditional core-base voters on an issue of overriding national importance. Major parties survive periodic defeats, but they cannot survive disalignment.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 344
• Altersempfehlung: ab 7 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. August 2010
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780313385476
• Artikelnr.: 37818349

Autorenporträt

CHARLES S. MACK is President and CEO of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee in Washington, D.C., the leadership PAC of the business community. His career spans 35 years of corporate and association management and political involvement at national and state levels. Mack has been president of a trade association, a senior public affairs executive of a multinational food manufacturer, and a consultant to companies and associations. He also served on the staffs of the Republican National Committee and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Mack teaches government relations at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. He is author of The Executive's Handbook of Trade and Business Associations (Quorum, 1990) and Lobbying and Government Relations (Quorum, 1989).

Inhaltsangabe

List of Illustrations Preface Chapter One Introduction Party Disalignment
and Realignment Characteristics of Disalignment Realignment Theory Working
Definitions and Variables Objectives and Hypotheses Methodology Plan of the
Book Chapter Two Parties and Party Systems Major vs. Minor Parties The
Party Base Party Labels A Definition of Political Parties Party System
Consolidation and Institutionalization Socioeconomic Cleavages and Party
Preferences New Parties and New Cleavages Party Durability Party Systems
Electoral Systems Party Types Perspectives on Leadership Chapter Three
Realignment and Dealignment The Origins of Realignment Theory Realignment
Criticisms Realignment Resurrected? The Dealignment Perspective Political
Change outside the United States Chapter Four Disalignment and Realignment:
A New Theoretical Approach A Different Lens Calculation of Parties' Bases
and Medial Voters A Theory of Disalignment Disalignment and Electoral
Systems A New Theory of Realignment A Typology of Elections Introduction to
the Cases Hypotheses Chapter Five The Case of the American Whig Party
Origins and Rise of the Whigs The 1824 Election The 1828 Election Party
Development The Jackson Presidency The Birth of the Whig Party The 1836
Election The Frustrations of the 1840 Election The Tyler Disaster The 1844
Election The Mexican War and the 1848 Election Taylor, the West, and
Patronage The Compromise of 1850 The 1850 Election and Its Aftermath The
1852 Election Temperance, Immigration, and Catholicism The Kansas-Nebraska
Bill and the End of the Whigs The Know Nothing Surge The Whig Rise and Fall
Conclusions Chapter Six The Case of the British Liberal Party Origins and
Rise of the Liberals Liberal Doctrines The Age of Gladstone Gladstone and
Ireland The Prewar Years The House of Lords Battle Labor Discord Women's
Suffrage The Irish Crises Coalition and War Management The Expanded
Electorate The 1918 "Coupon" Election The 1920s Local Elections Conclusions
Chapter Seven The Case of Canada's Progressive Conservative Party Quebec
and Regionalism in Canada The Unassimilated Province Western Protest The
Party System Regional and Provincial Competition Electoral Structure and
Serial Party Systems Pan-Canadianism in the Third-Party System Mulroney and
the Meech Lake Accord Preludes to Disaster The 1993 Earthquake The New
Protest Parties Continuity of Change: 1997-2002 Renewal of Change:
2004-2008 Who Won the Merger? Provincial vs. Federal Party Systems
Conclusions Chapter Eight The Case of the Italian Party System The Rise of
the Italian State Influences on the Party System The Quasi-Stable Party
System The Postwar Party System to 1992 The Collapse of the First Republic
Italy: Conclusions and Outlook Chapter Nine Comparative Analysis of the
Cases Conditions Necessary for Disalignments Leadership Failure Intensity
of National Identity Cleavage Issues and Positions Alienation of the Core
Base Availability of a Successor Party or Parties The Electoral System
Analysis of the Cases against the Hypotheses Chapter Ten Conclusions and
Implications for American Politics in the 21st Century Protecting the Base
Base Integrity and Party Polarization The Obstruction of Governance The
Intensity of Belief The Cartel Parties New Party Barriers The Reform Party
Experience Clarity of Choice The Italian Analogy Could Disalignments Recur?
Are Disalignments Cyclical? Selected Bibliography Index