Pradeep Chhibber and Ken Kollman rely on historical data
spanning back to the eighteenth century from Canada, Great Britain,
India, and the United States to revise our understanding of why a
country's party system consists of national or regional parties.
They demonstrate that the party systems in these four countries
have been shaped by the authority granted to different levels of
government. Departing from the conventional focus on social
divisions or electoral rules in determining whether a party system
will consist of national or regional parties, they argue instead
that national party systems emerge when economic and political
power resides with the national government. Regional parties thrive
when authority in a nation-state rests with provincial or state
governments. The success of political parties therefore depends on
which level of government voters credit for policy outcomes.
National political parties win votes during periods when political
and economic authority rests with the national government, and lose
votes to regional and provincial parties when political or economic
authority gravitates to lower levels of government.
This is the first book to establish a link between federalism
and the formation of national or regional party systems in a
comparative context. It places contemporary party politics in the
four examined countries in historical and comparative perspectives,
and provides a compelling account of long-term changes in these
countries. For example, the authors discover a surprising level of
voting for minor parties in the United States before the 1930s.
This calls into question the widespread notion that the United
States has always had a two-party system. In fact, only recently
has the two-party system become predominant.
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