Party Organization and Activism in the American South.

Abstract

Much of the recent scholarship about American political parties has attempted to assess the condition of the party system. Are parties becoming increasingly obsolete? Have they forfeited the functions they traditionally performed? Or have they adopted a different role in the political system such that their achievements have gone unrecognized? In short, are American political parties in decline, resurgence, or what? Using information gathered from local party officials in the eleven southern states, the authors examine such key data as who becomes involved in local party organizations and why; how parties recruit and retain workers; what ideological and issue orientations motivate these activists; how intraparty factionalism affects local party organizations; and what connection exists between the party organization and its external environment.