Skip to main content

Why Parties?

A Second Look

Since its first appearance fifteen years ago, Why Parties? has become essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the nature of American political parties. In the interim, the party system has undergone some radical changes. In this landmark book, now rewritten for the new millennium, John H. Aldrich goes beyond the clamor of arguments over whether American political parties are in resurgence or decline and undertakes a wholesale reexamination of the foundations of the American party system.

Surveying critical episodes in the development of American political parties—from their formation in the 1790s to the Civil War—Aldrich shows how they serve to combat three fundamental problems of democracy: how to regulate the number of people seeking public office, how to mobilize voters, and how to achieve and maintain the majorities needed to accomplish goals once in office. Aldrich brings this innovative account up to the present by looking at the profound changes in the character of political parties since World War II, especially in light of ongoing contemporary transformations, including the rise of the Republican Party in the South, and what those changes accomplish, such as the Obama Health Care plan. Finally, Why Parties? A Second Look offers a fuller consideration of party systems in general, especially the two-party system in the United States, and explains why this system is necessary for effective democracy.


400 pages | 24 line drawings, 24 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2011

Chicago Studies in American Politics

History: American History

Political Science: American Government and Politics

Reviews

“The first edition was already the best account of the development of American political parties, which developed new theory and employed modern statistical methods as well as traditional historical approaches to describe its complex and ever changing subject matter. The new edition describes recent developments in the parties and the party system and brings new evidence and thinking to the enterprise. It is a major contribution to political science that will be valuable to scholars as well as students at all levels.”

John Ferejohn, New York University School of Law

“Aldrich provides comprehensive coverage of the accumulated theory on political parties and achieves an impressive synthesis of both the historical and rational choice approaches to answer such questions as why parties develop, how and why parties evolve, and why parties are essential to democracy. . . . Through his careful analysis, the author deftly explains the transformation of parties from ‘ramshackle coalitions’ to ‘quasi-parliamentary’ and from ‘modern mass parties’ to ‘parties in service.’ Why Parties? is now the premiere standard book on political parties. . . . Highly recommended.”

R. J. Gelm | Choice

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

PART 1 POLITICAL PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY
1 Politics and Parties in America
2 Why Parties Form

PART 2 PARTY FORMATION IN AMERICA, 1790–1860
Prologue
3 Founding the First Parties
Institutions and Social Choice
4 Jacksonian Democracy
The Mass Party and Collective Action
5 Whigs and Republicans
Institutions, Issue Agendas, and Ambition

PART 3 THE NEW POLITICAL PARTY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA
Prologue
6 Party Activists and Partisan Cleavages
7 Political Parties and Governance
8 The Critical Era of the 1960s

PART 4 CONCLUSIONS
9 Political Parties, Historical Dynamics, and Democratic Politics

Notes
References
Index

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press