The Dynamics of Two-Party Politics: Party Structures and the Management of Competition (Comparative Politics)

177 Pages·2009·1.04 MB·English

by  Alan Ware

THE DYNAMICS OF TWO-PARTY POLITICS
COMPARATIVEPOLITICS
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The Dynamics of
Two-Party Politics
Party Structures and the Management
of Competition
ALAN WARE
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Ware,Alan.
Thedynamicsoftwo-partypolitics:partystructuresandthe
managementofcompetition/AlanWare.
p. cm.—(Comparativepolitics)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–19–956443–9
1.Two-partysystems. I.Title.
JF2051.W38 2009
324.2—dc22 2009007209
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PrintedbytheMPGBooksGroupintheUK
ISBN 978–0–19–956443–9
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Acknowledgements
I had been formulating many of the ideas outlined in this book before I went
on sabbatical leave in September 2006, with some of them having their origins
in my earlier published work. However, I actually started writing drafts of the
chaptersonceIbeganmyperiodofleaveinFlorence—attheEuropeanUniversity
Institute. I would like to thank the President of the EUI, Yves Meny, the then
Chair of the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Michael Keating, and
all the members of the department for their great support and kindness during
the six months that I spent there. The Politics Librarian, Peter Kennealy, also
generouslyprovidedmuchassistancebeyondthecallofduty.Inbrief,Ifoundthe
EUIisanidealinstitution,initsprovisionofintellectualstimulationandacademic
resources,foraVisitingFellowinthesocialsciences.
The manuscript went through extensive redrafting at various times, and I
would like to thank those who read and commented on it so constructively at
differentstages:JoniLovenduski,PeterMair,NigelBowles,AlanRenwick,Steve
Wolinetz, and an anonymous referee for Oxford University Press. Several other
people, including Kenneth Carty and the participants at a departmental seminar
at Cambridge University, have discussed aspects of the issues raised in the text.
Technical support, in the form of backup from Worcester College’s Computing
Manager, Karen James, and her team, was invaluable. I am most grateful to the
differentkindsofhelpthatallofthemprovided.
FormuchofthedraftingprocessIremainedunsatisfiedwithhowIwasstructur-
ingthevariousarguments,andthemanuscriptwasgreatlyimprovedasaresultof
thecommentsIreceived.Alltheerrorsremaininginthebookaremyresponsibil-
ityalone,ofcourse.Inthecourseofitsfrequentrewritingthemanuscriptchanged
from being the extended essay that I had had in mind originally to a short(ish)
book.Iamgratefulforthegreatflexibilitywithrespecttoboththework’slength,
and also the prospective date for the manuscript’s delivery to Oxford University
Press, shown by my editor, Dominic Byatt. Finally, I wish to thank Ildie Clarke
forcompilingtheindex.
A.W.
WorcesterCollege,OxfordUniversity
September2008
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Contents
ListofTables xi
1.Introduction 1
1.1. WhatisaPartySystem? 2
1.2. WhatisaTwo-PartySystem? 5
1.3. TheInstitutionalEnvironmentofTwo-Partism 9
1.4. Parties,Structure,andAgency 16
2.WhyMajorPartiesCollapse 23
2.1. PartyCollapseintheCanadianProvinces 26
2.2. CollapseandSingleElections 30
2.3. Collapse,Realignment,andtheFailureof
PartyManagement 34
2.4. WhyEntrenchedMajorPartiesOccasionallyCollapse 41
3.MajorPartyCollapseandConflictonTwoFronts 43
3.1. TheCanadianProgressiveConservatives 43
3.2. TheWhigsintheUnitedStates 45
3.3. TheBritishLiberals 49
3.4. HasManagingaParty’sEnvironmentbecome
MoreDifficult? 52
4.PartyStructuresandPartyDissolution 59
4.1. VotingforThirdandMinorParties 60
4.2. Single-InterestandSingle-IssueParties 61
4.3. TheDissolutionoftheAmericanWhigParty 62
4.4. TheSurvivaloftheBritishLiberalParty 72
5.TheLogicofPartyFusion 83
5.1. TheIncentivesforTemporaryFusion:
ABasicExample 85
5.2. TemporaryFusionandPermanentMergeroverTime 90
5.3. CoalitionsinDifferentPartyArenas 95
5.4. IncreasingtheSizeofaParty 97
6.HowMajorPartiesFormElectoralCoalitionswith
OtherParties 99
6.1. TemporaryCoalitions 99
6.2. ‘Unbargained’PartyMergers 106