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More parties or no parties : the politics of electoral reform in America
Author
Title
More parties or no parties : the politics of electoral reform in America / Jack Santucci.
ISBN
9780197630686
9780197630655
Published
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2022]
Physical Description
1 online resource (304 pages) : illustrations (colour).
Local Notes
Access is available to the Yale community.
Notes
Description based on Publisher website; title from home page (viewed on June 08, 2022).
Access and use
Access restricted by licensing agreement.
Summary
How should we think about electoral reform? What are the prospects for modern-day efforts to reform away the two-party system? This book offers a "shifting coalitions" theory of electoral-system change, puts the Progressive Era in comparative perspective, and warns against repeating history. It casts reform as an effort to get or keep control of government, usually during periods of party realignment. Reform can be used to insulate some coalition, dislodge the one in power, or deal with noncommittal "centrists." Whether reform lasts depends less on the number of parties than on whether it helps coalitions hold themselves together. This is where the Progressives got it wrong. Unable to win support for "multi-party politics," they built a reform movement on the idea of "no parties." They polarized local politics on the issue of "corruption," won proportional representation in twenty-four cities, then watched (and sometimes joined) its repeal in all but one case. Along the way, they found they needed parties after all, but the rules they had designed were not up to the task. This movement's legacy still shapes American politics: nonpartisan elections to undersized city councils. Today's reformers might do well to make peace with parties, and their critics might do well to make peace with having more.
Variant and related titles
Oxford scholarship online.
Other formats
Also available in Print and PDF edition.
Print version: More parties or no parties : the politics of electoral reform in America. First edition. New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2022
Format
Books / Online
Language
English
Added to Catalog
November 07, 2022
Series
Oxford scholarship online
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. Forcing Reform onto a Two-Party System
1.1 On party lists and "vote leakage"
1.2 A shifting-coalitions theory of reform
1.3 Comparing the American reform path
1.4 Plan of book
2. Party Government and Electoral Reform
2.1 Definitions
2.2 The logic of party government
2.3 Shifting coalitions, three kinds of reform
2.4 The reform coalition shapes the rules
2.5 The rules affect how you govern
2.6 Recap
3. From More Parties to No Parties
3.1 Mugwumps versus left parties, 1893-1913
3.2 The menu of proportional systems
3.3 Party lists get their test
3.4 The Model City Charter emerges
3.5 Recap
4. Spreading the Reform Template
4.1 Coalition-realigning STV adoption
4.2 Plurality charter adoption
4.3 Different reforms in three New England cities
4.4 Sources of party disunity
4.5 Recap
5. Rediscovering Party Government
5.1 Chaos in Cleveland, Cincinnati solution
5.2 Lessons learned at the top
5.3 Incidence of good-government slates
5.4 Recap
6. The Price of Coalition
6.1 Electoral systems and public spending
6.2 Spending in three types of cities, 1930-60
6.3 At-large election, local representation
6.4 Seeds of destruction?
6.5 Recap
7. Legislative Limbo, Polarizing Repeal
7.1 Illustrating legislative limbo
7.2 Cincinnati, 1925-57
7.3 New York City, 1937-47
7.4 Worcester, 1949-60
7.5 Stopping the leak in Cambridge, 1941-69
7.6 Conclusion and notes on other cases
7.7 Recap
8. More Parties or No Parties?
8.1 Summary of core points
8.2 Prospects for a proportional U.S. House
8.3 Back to the future?
8.4 Making reform work
Appendix A: Repeal Coalitions and Candidate Entry
A.1 Cincinnati
A.2 New York City
A.3 Worcester
Bibliography
Index.
Subjects
Genre/Form
Electronic books.
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