Authors:
- Provocative arguments concerning the dynamics of party politics, with practical recommendations for reform
- Prolific and outspoken author prepared to promote to mainstream media in a U.S. election year and beyond
- Crisp, concise, engaging presentation will appeal to general readers, students and researchers alike
Part of the book series: Studies in Public Choice (SIPC, volume 12)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
Stifling Political Competition examines the history and array of laws, regulations, subsidies and programs that benefit the two major parties and discourage even the possibility of a serious challenge to the Democrat-Republican duopoly. The analysis synthesizes political science, economics and American history to demonstrate how the two-party system is the artificial creation of a network of laws, restrictions and subsidies that favor the Democrats and Republicans and cripple potential challenges. The American Founders, as it has been generally forgotten, distrusted political parties. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution are parties mentioned, much less given legal protection or privilege. This provocative book traces how by the end of the Civil War the Republicans and Democrats had guaranteed their dominance and subsequently influenced a range of policies developed to protect the duopoly. For example, Bennett examines how the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as amended in 1974 and 1976), which was sold to the public as a nonpartisan act of good government reformism actually reinforced the dominance of the two parties. While focused primarily on the American experience, the book does consider the prevalence of two-party systems around the world (especially in emerging democracies) and the widespread contempt with which they are often viewed. The concluding chapter considers the potential of truly radical reform toward opening the field to vigorous, lively, contentious third-party candidacies that might finally offer alienated voters a choice, not an echo.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“This work provides a much needed, long overdue, and extremely timely analysis of the current US two-party political system … . overall, I found the writing style to be enjoyable and very entertaining … . I recommend this book to anyone interested in studying and understanding the costs and unintended consequences of Stifling Political Competition.” (Claudia R. Williamson, Public Choice, Vol. 141, 2009)Authors and Affiliations
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George Mason University, Fairfax, USA
James T. Bennett
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Stifling Political Competition
Book Subtitle: How Government Has Rigged the System to Benefit Demopublicans and Exclude Third Parties
Authors: James T. Bennett
Series Title: Studies in Public Choice
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09821-0
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York 2009
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-387-09820-3Published: 26 November 2008
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-1891-8Published: 19 November 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-0-387-09821-0Published: 30 November 2008
Series ISSN: 0924-4700
Series E-ISSN: 2731-5258
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 144
Topics: Political Science, History, general