The breakdown of Democratic Party organization, 1940-1980

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

The breakdown of Democratic Party organization, 1940-1980

Alan Ware

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1988, c1985

  • : pbk

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Note

First published 1985

First issued in paperback 1988

Bibliography: p. [255]-263

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book examines the origins of the collapse of local political party organizations in the United States, which occurred between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s. The author draws attention to the problems faced by many local parties in America during this period, concentrating on Democratic parties in three major urban areas - New York City, Denver and the East Bay of California - and argues that this decline resulted from a complex interaction of various factors and left the parties ill-equipped to deal with candidate-centred campaigning and the social, economic and political changes during the unsettled Vietnam era. The author of "Citizens, Parties and the State", Dr Alan Ware has written a new introductory note for this paperback edition, relating his arguments to those of three other books specializing in this area.

Table of Contents

  • Part 1 Introduction: some observations on the state of the parties in 1962 or 1963
  • political science and party decline. Part 2 New York, Denver and the East Bay in the national context
  • political and electoral institutions in the three areas. Part 3 1940-1960 - Indian summer for the parties?: New York City - continuing party decay
  • the East Bay - party revival
  • Denver - party politics as usual. Part 4 The missing party work-force: the problems of mobilizing a party work-force
  • the disappearance of the professional activist
  • the disappearance of the amateur activist. Part 5 The decline of the party structures: New York - fratricide and the decline of organizational loyalty
  • Denver - institutional reform and non-reform
  • East Bay - political extremism and the lack of an organizational structure. Part 6 The rise of the new notability - candidates: the declining "pull" of parties
  • increasing the resources for incumbent independence
  • "warlordism" in California. Part 7 The impact of the new campaign technology: campaign consultants
  • television
  • radio
  • direct mail
  • door-to-door campaigning. Part 8 Coalition partners - Blacks and labour unions: the unsteady growth of Black politics
  • the rise and fall of the labour unions

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