Why Parties?: The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America (American Politics and Political Economy Series)
" Doing something" about U.S. political parties--making them stronger or weaker, adding a third party, replacing the Democrats and Republicans with new, more cohesive alignments--is a central recommendation of dozens of recent books and articles. Readers interested enough in this subject to plow through academic political science's statistical and linguistic impediments will find complex, nuanced history and thoughtful analysis here. Aldrich views any major political party as inevitably "the creature of the politicians, the ambitious office seeker and officeholder." To achieve their own goals, ambitious politicians participate in and shape specific institutional arrangements (in this case, political parties) within the historical context of their own times. Where other theorists see the past 30 years as "the decline (dealignment, decay, even decomposition) of parties," Aldrich takes a somewhat different tack. "Events in the 1960s," he maintains, represent "the final demise of the form of parties created by Van Buren," giving ambitious politicians a good deal of independence. As a result, the parties that oncecontrolledambitious office seekers are now defined by their need toservethem.Mary Carroll--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.