Recently, there has been a high level of conflict in American politics. Massive disagreements over government policies have pitted one group of Americans against another. This book explores how and why this style of politics developed and argues that fundamental disagreements between Americans have always been at the root of its politics.
This book examines the dynamics of the American party system and explores how contemporary American politics was formed. Specifically, it asks how the Democrats could become sufficiently competitive in the American North as to be able to construct a national political majority. It rejects the conventional account, based on 'realignment theory', that between the end of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Revolution, the base level of support for the Democratic party varied greatly from one era to another. Instead, by distinguishing between the 'building blocks' available to the Democrats in coalition formation and the aggregation of those 'blocks' into an actual coalition, the author shows that there was much less variation over time in the available 'blocks' than is usually argued. Neither the economic depression of 1893 nor the New Deal had the impact on the party system that most political scientists claim.
This 2006 book examines the dynamics of the American party system and explores how contemporary American politics was formed. Specifically, it asks how the Democrats could become sufficiently competitive in the American North as to be able to construct a national political majority. It rejects the conventional account, based on 'realignment theory', that between the end of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Revolution, the base level of support for the Democratic party varied greatly from one era to another. Instead, by distinguishing between the 'building blocks' available to the Democrats in coalition formation and the aggregation of those 'blocks' into an actual coalition, the author shows that there was much less variation over time in the available 'blocks' than is usually argued. Neither the economic depression of 1893 nor the New Deal had the impact on the party system that most political scientists claim.
This book examines the role played by the parties themselves in two-party systems. It rejects the argument that the behaviour of the parties is determined largely by social forces or by the supposed logic of the electoral market. Instead, it shows that both structure and agency can matter. It focuses on three major aspects of change in two-party systems: (i) why occasionally major parties ( such as the British Liberals) collapse; (ii) why collapsed parties sometimes survive as minor parties, and sometimes do not; and (iii) what determines why, and how, major parties will ally themselves with minor parties in order to maximize their chances of winning. With respect to the first aspect it is argued that major parties are advantaged by two factors: the resources they have accumulated already, and their occupying role similar to that called by Thomas Schelling a "focal arbiter". Consequently, party collapse is rare. When it has occurred in nation states it is the result of a major party having to fight opposition on "two separate fronts". The survival of a collapsed party depends largely on its internal structure; when a party has linked closely the ambitions of politicians at different levels of office, party elimination is more likely. The main arena in which agency is significant - that is, when leadership is possible, including the politician acting as heresthetician - is in the re-building of coalitions. This is necessary for maximizing the chances of a party winning, but, for various reasons, coalitions between major and minor parties are usually difficult to construct. Comparative Politics is a series for scholars and students of political science that deals with contemporary issues in comparative government and politics. The General Editor is David M. Farrell, Jean Monnet Chair in European Politics and Head of School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research.
This book rejects conventional accounts of how American political parties differ from those in other democracies. It focuses on the introduction of the direct primary and argues that primaries resulted from a process of party institutionalization initiated by party elites. It overturns the widely accepted view that, between 1902 and 1915, direct primaries were imposed on the parties by anti-party reformers intent on weakening them. An examination of particular northern states shows that often the direct primary was not controversial, and only occasionally did it involve confrontation between party 'regulars' and their opponents. Rather, the impetus for direct nominations came from attempts within the parties to subject informal procedures to formal rules. However, it proved impossible to reform the older caucus-convention system effectively, and party elites then turned to the direct primary - a device that already had become more common in rural counties in the late nineteenth century.
This book provides a thorough and engaging analysis of inequality in Britain, including its long-term development and transformation since the beginning of the 20th century. The author argues that inequality is not what it used to be – no longer can policy-makers consider it just in terms of status, wealth and income. Having resurfaced strongly as an issue after the financial crisis of 2007–2008, a truly informed discussion of inequality must now be wide ranging and take account of a variety of interacting factors. They include both a radically different role for education in the labour market and the interests of future generations. Government policies, market failures and fundamental changes in British society and economy in earlier decades have all contributed to inequality’s contemporary scope, its intensity and who it affects. Alan Ware traces and illuminates the altered nature of inequality in Britain, its consequences and especially its political implications. It offers a timely, concise and illuminating examination that will be of interest to all those concerned about inequality and, more broadly, to scholars and students of sociology, social/public policy, contemporary British history, political sociology and political theory.
This text is designed to give students a comprehensive view of the British electoral system. Its innovative comparative and theoretical approach will provide a link between courses in British politics, comparative politics and political theory. The book looks at electoral systems in relation to democratic theory and examines the justification for modern electoral rules. It compares parliamentary elections with various other kinds of election, and it looks at the differences between British experience and that of other countries. Andrew Reeve and Alan Ware aim to inform the debate about whether our electoral system should be reformed, by raising such crucial issues as the connection between democracy and the electoral process, the significance of the territorial dimension in the British electoral system, and the role the election system plays in allocating values in a society.
Comprises 11 contributions exploring issues in the political finances of emerging democracies. The contributors look at funding issues in Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and the regions of east Asia and east-central Europe. Several contributors also explore what can be learned from the history of political finance in the established democracies of western Europe and North America. Of interest to students of political parties, electoral politics and democratization studies, as well as researchers and specialist observers of the countries and systems covered. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The contributions here consider a number of themes and issues which account for the successful democratization of the United States and Canada and offer an analysis of the reasons for the absence of democratization in Mexico.
This work is an introduction to the study of political parties and party systems. It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on liberal democracies through a comparative approach. The aim of Political Parties and Party Systems is to explain to students of politics how and why parties and party systems differ from one country to another. However, it also seeks to provide a more detailed understanding of party politics in five particular countries. Most of the chapters are divided into two sections. First, general themes and arguments about a topic are introduced, and examples from a large number of countries are discussed in relation to that topic. Then, particular attention is paid to five of the largest liberal democracies--Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States.
Lewis Anthony Dexter may well have been one of the better known and least appreciated political scientists of the last century. This outstanding collection of Dexter's writings, demonstrates why Dexter remains important. The volume off ers solid reasons for researching the topics Dexter pioneered, and is a masterful guide to his thought and analyses. Dexter's writings derive from a multifaceted career. The Management of Purpose is organized into three broad subject areas: sociology, political science, and practicing social science. Dexter's notions of what constituted sociology and anthropology and his understandings of these areas and how to use them to illumine political matters are unusual. His use of multiple types of evidence, including history and logic, enables him to make significant contributions to the study of society's response to social problems. His work on labeling theory shows that social labels have a power that both transcends and distorts reality. Dexter was also a pioneer in the interactionist perspective, linking the labeled and those doing the labeling, and in demonstrating how organizations tend to compartmentalize and specialize. Dexter's work provides the analytic tools to enable readers to better understand many of the issues that remain a part of the American political landscape. Lewis Anthony Dexter (1915-1995), lectured at over thirty universities including Harvard University, Howard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His books include American Business and Public Policy, How Organizations Are Represented in Washington, and Representation versus Direct Democracy. Martïn Sanchez-Jankowski is professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in the sociology of poverty and is the author of Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods, among other books. Alan J. Ware is professor of politics, Worcester College, University of Oxford, specializing in American politics and is the author of The Democratic Party Heads North, 1877-1862 and The American Direct Primary among other books.
This book is about the many organizations in Britain and the United States which are neither legally part of the state nor permitted to distribute any profits they earn. These ‘intermediate organizations' include charities, churches, famine relief agencies, non-state universities, credit unions and social clubs. In a unique study of this area of the British and American economy, Alan Ware provides a rigorously analytical and historical account of the relationship of intermediate organizations to both the state and the ‘for profit' sector. Among other issues, the author considers the disappearance of nineteenth century working class ‘mutual' organizations, the growth of profit-making activities by non-profit distributing bodies and the growth and change in voluntarism. He argues that the boundaries between intermediate organizations and the other two ‘sectors' are becoming more blurred in a variety of ways and that intermediate organizations do not constitute a separate ‘sector' of society. The book also examines the problems of regulating such organizations and explains the consequences of the British and American practice of having relatively little state intervention in the affairs of such organizations. Finally the author discusses the activities of these organizations in relation to pluralist accounts of the working of liberal democratic states.
Philosopher, author, and lecturer Alan Watts (1915–1973) popularized Zen Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies for the counterculture of the 1960s. Today, new generations are finding his writings and lectures online, while faithful followers worldwide continue to be enlightened by his teachings. The Collected Letters of Alan Watts reveals the remarkable arc of Watts's colorful and controversial life, from his school days in England to his priesthood in the Anglican Church as chaplain of Northwestern University to his alternative lifestyle and experimentation with LSD in the heyday of the late sixties. His engaging letters cover a vast range of subject matter, with recipients ranging from High Church clergy to high priests of psychedelics, government officials, publishers, critics, family, and fans. They include C. G. Jung, Henry Miller, Gary Snyder, Aldous Huxley, Reinhold Niebuhr, Timothy Leary, Joseph Campbell, and James Hillman. Watts’s letters were curated by two of his daughters, Joan Watts and Anne Watts, who have added rich, behind-the-scenes biographical commentary. Edited by Joan Watts & Anne Watts
This volume reveals how the world's leading stuntmen, special effects teams and makeup artists have put together some of the cinema's most thrilling moments.
This text gives students a comprehensive view of the British electoral system. Its innovative comparative and theoretical approach will provide a link between courses in British politics, comparative politics and political theory.
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