Neoconservatism in Contemporary Political Science: Democratic Theory and the Party System

Abstract

This essay examines one manifestation of neoconservatism in contemporary political science--the neoconservative analysis of the crisis of the American party system. A number of political scientists has argued that recent reforms have led to domination of the party system by ideological activists from the "New Class" and have undermined the accommodationist, coalition-building functions of political parties. These neoconservatives are defenders of the American party system of the 1950s and 1960s, and their arguments are derived from post-war democratic revisionism. The party system is now in crisis, however, primarily because the ideological consensus of the post-New Deal era has collapsed under the weight of social changes of the past several decades. Restoration of the "traditional" American party system is hardly likely to resolve the crisis.