Electoral realignments : a critique of an American genre / David R. Mayhew.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mayhew, David R.

Series:

Yale ISPS series.

The Yale ISPS series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political parties--United States--History.

Political parties.

Elections--United States--History.

Elections.

Party affiliation--United States--History.

Party affiliation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The study of electoral realignments is one of the most influential and intellectually stimulating enterprises undertaken by American political scientists. Realignment theory has been seen as a science able to predict changes, and generations of students, journalists, pundits, and political scientists have been trained to be on the lookout for "signs" of new electoral realignments. Now a major political scientist argues that the essential claims of realignment theory are wrong-that American elections, parties, and policymaking are not (and never were) reconfigured according to the realignment calendar. David Mayhew examines fifteen key empirical claims of realignment theory in detail and shows us why each in turn does not hold up under scrutiny. It is time, he insists, to open the field to new ideas. We might, for example, adopt a more nominalistic, skeptical way of thinking about American elections that highlights contingency, short-term election strategies, and valence issues. Or we might examine such broad topics as bellicosity in early American history, or racial questions in much of our electoral history. But we must move on from an old orthodoxy and failed model of illumination.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 2. The Realignments Perspective

Chapter 3. Framing the Critique

Chapter 4. The Cyclical Dynamic

Chapter 5. Processes and Issues

Chapter 6. Policies and Democracy

Conclusion

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786611722296

9781281722294

1281722294

9780300130034

0300130031

OCLC:

952732236