Refining (and Redefining) the Party

Abstract

We begin this chapter by reviewing the literature that debates which elements make up a political party. While other scholars have touched on the importance of activists, no one has been able to satisfactorily define and measure their effect on the presidential nomination process. In a polarized general election environment, these activists play an important role in mobilizing the party electorate, and disunity almost inevitably dooms a party’s nominee in the general election. To better understand the role of the unity within the party, we utilize Masket’s idea of the party being a network. To be able to operationalize this at a national level, we look at activist as being shared donors between candidates in the presidential nomination process.