How do Democratic and Republican party leaders react after their party has lost a presidential election? Is there a pattern of response to defeat that reflects the distinctive cultures of the two parties? This book answers these questions by examining how the two national party organizations have responded to presidential election defeats between 1956 and 1993. Drawing on party documents, interviews with party officials, and contemporary accounts, Philip Klinkner provides detailed case studies of opposition party politics. He shows that Republican national committees have reacted to losses by making organizational changes to improve campaign technology and fundraising and that losing Democrats have sought to refine or make more democratic their internal procedures for selecting delegates to the national convention or for choosing presidential candidates. Klinkner suggests that the reasons for these reactions stem from the historical development of the parties. The organizational response of the Republican party is the result of its long-term relationship with business, its homogeneity and hierarchical structure, and its minority party experience. The Democrats' emphasis on participation and representation for its constituent elements is based on its characteristic composition of social and economic out-groups, its heterogeneity and decentralization, and its tradition as the majority party.

This book puts 1994 in context with other significant midterm elections, from 1810 to the present. It also captures the very contemporary concerns unique to 1994: the role of the religious right, the "angry white male;' the Contract with America, and the overall tenor of antipathy.

By all accounts, 1994 represents sweeping electoral and policy change rarely seen in any American election, let alone a midterm. This book puts 1994 in context with other significant midterm elections, from 1810 to the present. It also captures the very contemporary concerns unique to 1994: the role of the religious right, the "angry white male," the Contract with America, and the overall tenor of antipathy as voters turned out (or not) to show the Clinton administration what they thought of its first two years. This collection of original esays by noted political scientists gives us the first thoughtful analysis of the 1994 election results and prepares us to anticipate the certain drama and import of the election of 1996.

Winner of the Horace Mann Bond Award of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University
"This book should be read by all who aspire to create a more perfect union."-"Publishers Weekly, "starred review
Have the history of race relations in America really been the continuous march toward equality we imagine? "The Unsteady March" argues quite the opposite: that progress toward equality has been sporadic, isolated, and surrounded by long periods of stagnation and retrenchment.

This work aims to disprove the idea that the United States has been on a "steady march" toward the end of racial discrimination. Rather, progress has been made only in brief periods, under special conditions, and it has always been followed by periods of stagnation and retrenchment. In this history of race relations, Philip Klinkner and Rogers Smith show that significant advances in racial justice have occurred only when three circumstances have converged: large-scale wars, which require extensive economic and military mobilization of African Americans; an enemy that inspires American leaders to advocate inclusive, egalitarian values in order to justify the war; and domestic political organizations that are able to pressure those leaders to follow through on their rhetoric. Klinkner and Smith's history demonstrates that substantial progress has not yet occurred without these factors working together, as they did during the Revolutionary War, Civil War and Cold War eras. With its insights into contemporary racial politics and its wealth of historical material, this book is a controversial analysis of race relations across two centuries. The fight for racial equality has not been won, the authors argue, nor will it be unless one recognizes the true factors behind progress and the extraordinary efforts required to achieve it.