Parties have often been the central intermediaries of politics, gathering and presenting the main actors and the main programs, while linking individual citizens with governmental institutions, social forces with public policy. As a result, a focus on partisanship brings many of the specific contestants, policies, conflicts, and coalitions—the guts of politics as it is normally understood—back into view. Byron E. Shafer heads a distinguished team of expert commentators who focus, in parallel chapters, on the dramatic dimensions of political change over the years 1946-1996.

Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Partisan Officeholders, 1946–1996, Randall W. Strahan
Partisan Politics, 1946-52
Two Partisan Twists on the Way to the Late Twentieth Century
Late-Century Partisan Politics, 1990–96
Conclusion: Partisan Officeholders and Political Change

2. Party Factionalism, 1946–1996, Nicol C. Rae
A Period of Transition I: 1946–52
A Period of Transition II: 1990–96
Conclusion: Party Factions in a New Millenium

3. Partisan Elites, 1946–1996, Byron E. Shafer
The Circulation of Elites
The Immediate Postwar Years
The Modern Period
Conclusion: The Circulation of Elites Revisited

4. Party Organizations, 1946–1996, John F. Bibby
Party Organizations in the Immediate Post-World War II Era
The Evolution of a Candidate-Centered Politics
Party Organizations in the 1990s
Conclusions

5. Mass Partisanship, 1946–1996, William G. Mayer
The Nature of Mass Partisanship
Mass Partisanship in the 1950s: An Overview
Five Measures of Mass Partisanship
Summing Up: Mass Partisanship in the 1990s

6. Partisan Rules, 1946&ndash1996, Harold F. Bass Jr.
Setting the Stage: Preliminary Developments
Ballot-Related Practices at Midcentury
The Situation at Century's End
Elaborations on the Transformation: Why, How, and So What?
Conclusions

Index