THE AMERICAN DIRECT PRIMARY by Alan Ware ( 9780521814928 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

THE AMERICAN DIRECT PRIMARY
PARTY INSTITUTIONALIZATION AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE NORTH

By:

Format:

Hardback

List price:	£58.00
We currently do not stock this item, please contact the publisher directly for further information.

ISBN 10:

0521814928

ISBN 13:

9780521814928

Publisher:

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

14 October, 2002

Pages:

288

Description:

A major study of the origins of direct primary US elections since the 1920s.

Synopsis:

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.

Illustrations:

14 tables

Publication:

Imprint:

Cambridge University Press

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

50 YEARS OF FOOTBALL IN FOCUS (PB)

BETWEEN PROFIT AND STATE (HB)

CITIZENS, PARTIES AND THE STATE (HB)

CITIZENS, PARTIES AND THE STATE (PB)