The Inevitable Party

Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy

Seth Masket

Employs several different research approaches, from social network analysis to interviews with local political leaders, to roll call voting analysis
Focuses on states, rather than national politics
Explores the issue of how to deal with excessive partisanship

The Inevitable Party

Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy

Seth Masket

Description

Seth Masket's The Inevitable Party is a study of anti-party reforms and why they fail. Numerous reform movements over the past century have designated parties as the enemy of democracy, and they have found a willing ally in the American people in their efforts to rein in and occasionally root out parties. Masket investigates several of these anti-party reform efforts - from open primaries to campaign finance restrictions to nonpartisan legislatures - using legislative roll call votes, campaign donations patterns, and extensive interviews with local political elites. These cases each demonstrate parties adapting to, and sometimes thriving amidst, reforms designed to weaken or destroy them. The reason for these reforms' failures, the book argues, is that they proceed from an incorrect conception of just what a party is. Parties are not rigid structures that can be wished or legislated away; they are networks of creative and adaptive policy demanders who use their influence to determine just what sorts of people get nominated for office. Even while these reforms tend to fail, however, they impose considerable costs on society, usually reducing transparency and accountability in politics and government.

The Inevitable Party

Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy

Seth Masket

The Inevitable Party

Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy

Seth Masket

Author Information

Seth Masket is associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Denver. His research and teaching focus on party nominations, state legislatures, campaigns and elections, and social networks. He is the author of No Middle Ground: How Informal Party Organizations Control Nominations and Polarize Legislatures. He is a founding contributor to the Vox.com blog "Mischiefs of Faction" and writes a weekly column for Pacific Standard.

The Inevitable Party

Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy

Seth Masket

Reviews and Awards

"A dissenting voice in the cacophony of advocates for party reform... offers a compelling argument that "reform" at best offers temporary respite, and that reformers might what to adapt our institutions to the parties instead." --Choice

"Using sophisticated analyses of historical and contemporary reform efforts in the states, Masket demonstrates that parties are not hapless victims of legal restrictions placed on their activities but resourceful and adaptive networks that remain essential instruments of American democracy." --Thomas E. Mann, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution

"How and why does the American political world sort itself into two distinct parties? This book is a must read for anyone interested in that basic question. It has both theory and evidence." --David R. Mayhew, Sterling Professor of Political Science, Yale University

"Using careful mixed-method case studies at the state level, Masket arrives at the powerful conclusion that anti-party reforms do little damage to parties (which remain adaptable and tenacious), but do much to decrease transparency and accountability. The argument is skillfully woven and deftly executed: democracy suffers, parties do not." --Jessica Trounstine, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of California, Merced