Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T10:42:25.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Transformation of the Republican and Democratic Party Coalitions in the U.S.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2008

Gary Miller  and
Norman Schofield
Gary Miller
Affiliation:
Washington University in St. Louis. E-mail: gjmiller@artsci.wustl.edu
Norman Schofield
Affiliation:
Washington University in St. Louis. E-mail: schofield.norman@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Because the space of policies is two-dimensional, parties in the United States are coalitions of opposed interests. The Republican Party contains both socially conservative and socially liberal groups, though both tend to be pro-business. The increasing dominance of the social conservatives has angered some prominent Republicans, even causing a number of them to change party allegiance. Over time, the decreasing significance of the economic axis may cause the Republican Party to adopt policies that are analogous to those proposed by William Jennings Bryan in 1896: populist and anti-business. In parallel, the Democratic Party will increasingly appeal to pro-business, social liberals, so the party takes on the mantel of Lincoln.

Type
Research Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 433 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, J. H. 1983a. A spatial model with party activists: Implications for electoral dynamics. Public Choice 41: 63–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aldrich, J. H. 1983b. A Downsian spatial model with party activists. American Political Science Review 77 (3): 974–90.Google Scholar
Bass, Jack, and Thompson, Marilyn W.. 1998. Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography. Atlanta: Longstreet Press.Google Scholar
Branch, Taylor. 1988. Parting the Waters. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Branch, Taylor. 1998. Pillar of Fire. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Branch, Taylor. 2006. At Canaan's Edge. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Patrick. 1998. The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice Are Being Sacrificed to the Gods of the Global Economy. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Patrick. 1999. A Republic, Not an Empire. Washington, DC: Regnery.Google Scholar
Carter, Dan T. 2000. The Politics of Rage: George Wallace and the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics. 2d ed.Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University.Google Scholar
Danforth, John. 2005. “In the Name of Politics.” New York Times, March 30.Google Scholar
Frank, Thomas. 2004. What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. New York: Henry Holt & Co.Google Scholar
Free Internet Press. 2006. “Senate Immigration Deal Faltering,” April 7.Google Scholar
Frum, David. 1994. Dead Right. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gore, Al. 2007. The Assault on Reason. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Gray, John. 2007. Black Mass. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Hinich, Melvin. J. 1977. Equilibrium in spatial voting: The median voter theorem is an artifact. Journal of Economic Theory 16 (2): 208–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kazin, M. 2006. A Godly Hero. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Kirkland, Richard I. Jr. 2005. “Today's GOP: The Party's Over for Big Business.” Fortune, February 6.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, David D. 2006. “Demonstrations on Immigration Harden a Divide.” New York Times, April 17.Google Scholar
Lasch, Christopher. 1991. The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Merrill, Samuel III, Grofman, Bernard, and Brunell, Thomas L.. 2008. Cycles in American national electoral politics. American Political Science Review 102 (1): 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milburn, John. 2006. “Former GOP Chairman Parkinson Switches Affiliation to Democrat.” Kansas City Star, May 30.Google Scholar
Miller, Gary, and Schofield, Norman. 2003. Activism and partisan realignment in the United States. American Political Science Review 97 (2): 245–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichols, David. 2007. A Matter of Justice. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Phillips, Kevin. 1969. The Emerging Republican Majority. New Rochelle: Arlington House.Google Scholar
Phillips, Kevin. 2006. American Theocracy. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Poole, Keith, and Rosenthal, Howard. 1984. U.S. presidential elections 1968–1980: A spatial analysis. American Journal of Political Science 28 (2): 283–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaller, Tom. 2006. Whistling Past Dixie. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Schnidman, Evan A. 2008. “Spatial Modeling of the U.S. Presidential Primary Candidates.” M.A. diss., Washington University in St. Louis.Google Scholar
Schofield, Norman. 2006. Equilibria in the spatial stochastic model of voting with party activists. Review of Economic Design 10 (3): 183–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schofield, Norman. 2007. The mean voter theorem: Necessary and sufficient conditions for convergent equilibrium. Review of Economic Studies 74 (3): 965–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schofield, Norman, and Miller, Gary. 2007. Elections and activist coalitions in the United States. American Journal of Political Science 51 (3): 518–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schofield, Norman, Miller, Gary, and Martin, Andrew. 2003. Critical elections and political realignment in the US: 1860–2000. Political Studies 51 (3): 217–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schofield, Norman, and Sened, Itai. 2006. Multiparty Democracy: Elections and Legislative Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Jeff. 2005. “Trading Places: The Two Parties in the Electorate from 1975–2004.” Ph.D. diss., Washington University in St. Louis.Google Scholar
“Stem Cell Proposal Splits Missouri G.O.P.” 2006. New York Times, March 12.Google Scholar
Stokes, Donald. 1963. Spatial models and party competition. American Political Science Review 57 (3): 368–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, Donald. 1992. Valence politics. In Electoral Politics, ed. Kavanagh, D.. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Wallis, Jim. 2005. God's Politics. New York: Harper..Google Scholar
Westen, Drew. 2007. The Political Brain. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar