Dissertation

Party Coalitions, Party Ideology, and Party Action: Extended Party Networks in the United States

Reuning, Kevin

2018

Overview

American political parties are not singular entities, but webs of interests that come together to gain power and implement policy. This has been noted by recent work, but there has been little theoretical focus on the implications of this parties as networks approach. My dissertation unpacks what it means for political parties to be networks and what the implications of this view are. I argue that because political parties are networks, the relationships that exist between groups within the network are critical in explaining variation in party ideology across the state parties. In addition, I argue that fracturing of a party network outside the legislature leads to a similar fracturing of the party caucus inside the legislature. To test these theories I use state legislative donation data from 2000 to 2016 to develop state donation networks. Using these networks I first show that relationships help to explain party ideology even when controlling for resources. I then use Exponential Random Graph Models to measure the degree of cohesion/fracturing within a party network. I find that this is an important predictor of legislative cohesion for Democrats and not for Republicans.My findings have important ramifications for democracy in the United States. In particular it demonstrates that solutions over unequal representation cannot just focus on the role of money in politics, as relationships are just as important, and are not solely a function of resources. In addition it helps to explain how parties in the United States often have unsteady paths forward, moving quickly to change policy positions after a long time of stasis.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: American studies / Organizational behavior / Political science / Social research / Sociology
• ISBN: 9798494499745