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11 - PARTIES AND THE PURSUIT OF MAJORITIES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Mark D. Brewer  and
Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Mark D. Brewer
Affiliation:
University of Maine, Orono
Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York
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Summary

CHANGE AND UNCERTAINTY

Political parties must continually assess their situations and determine if they need to adjust in order to achieve their goals. When a party is in the majority, there are concerns about what must be done to maintain the majority. Is there a coherent coalition in place, or does the party have to worry about balancing competing and potentially conflicting needs that could result in the fracturing of the party's coalition? During the era of the New Deal coalition, Democrats consistently faced this latter scenario with a Northern, urban contingent that wanted more government programs, and over time, greater action on civil rights. The Southern delegation was much less receptive to more government programs and was vehement in opposition to any civil rights legislation. Republicans in the early 2000s had a coalition of antigovernment economic conservatives and social conservatives that wanted to use government to encourage particular personal behaviors. In both cases, maintaining a coalition to keep a majority involved satisfying competing and potentially conflicting needs and desires. With Democrats, the coalition eventually ruptured. With Republicans, the balancing act is ongoing.

Parties in the minority face a different challenge. They must assess who they are currently attracting, determine which groups they might be able to add, and try to figure out whether existing supporters and potential supporters could be cobbled together to form a winning coalition.

Type
Chapter
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Dynamics of American Political Parties , pp. 200 - 210
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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