Books and journals Case studies Expert Briefings Open Access
Advanced search

The Strength of Civil Society Ties: Explaining Party Change in America’s Bluest State

Johnnie Lotesta

On the Cross Road of Polity, Political Elites and Mobilization

ISBN: 978-1-78635-480-8, eISBN: 978-1-78635-479-2

ISSN: 0895-9935

Publication date: 14 December 2017

Abstract

This paper develops a new theory arguing that party change results from ruptures in political parties’ ties to civil society organizations. I demonstrate the utility of this approach by using it to explain why the Rhode Island Democratic Party (RIDP) changed from a hierarchical machine to a porous political field occupied by multiple interlegislator cliques and brokered by extra-party political organizations and professionals. While others attribute party change to bureaucratization, electoral demand, or system-level changes, I analyze historical, observational, and interview data to find that a severance in the RIDP’s relationship with organized labor prompted party change by causing power to diffuse outward as leadership lost control over nominations and the careers of elected office holders. In the spaces that remained, interest groups and political professionals came to occupy central positions within the party field, serving as brokers of the information and relationships necessary to coordinate legislative activity. This analysis refines existing theories of party change and provides a historically-grounded explanation for the institutionalization of interest groups and political professionals in American party politics.

Keywords

  • Political parties
  • Party change
  • Rhode Island
  • Rhode Island Democratic Party (RIDP)
  • Organized interest groups

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful to Jennifer Bouek, Anthony Chen, Nitsan Chorev, Cedric de Leon, José Itzigsohn, Stephanie Lee Mudge, Apollonya Porcelli, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback. This paper also benefited from comments received at the 2014 Chicago Ethnography Conference and the 2014 ASA Political Sociology Roundtables. Special thanks are due to Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Josh Pacewicz for overseeing various stages of this project. Errors and omissions are my own.

Citation

Lotesta, J. (2017), "The Strength of Civil Society Ties: Explaining Party Change in America’s Bluest State", On the Cross Road of Polity, Political Elites and Mobilization (Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 257-287. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-993520160000024009

Download as .RIS

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017 Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Please note you do not have access to teaching notes

You may be able to access teaching notes by logging in via Shibboleth, Open Athens or with your Emerald account.
Login
If you think you should have access to this content, click the button to contact our support team.
Contact us

To read the full version of this content please select one of the options below

You may be able to access this content by logging in via Shibboleth, Open Athens or with your Emerald account.
Login
If you think you should have access to this content, click the button to contact our support team.
Contact us
Emerald Publishing
  • Opens in new window
  • Opens in new window
  • Opens in new window
  • Opens in new window
© 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited

Services

  • Authors Opens in new window
  • Editors Opens in new window
  • Librarians Opens in new window
  • Researchers Opens in new window
  • Reviewers Opens in new window

About

  • About Emerald Opens in new window
  • Working for Emerald Opens in new window
  • Contact us Opens in new window
  • Publication sitemap

Policies and information

  • Privacy notice
  • Site policies
  • Modern Slavery Act Opens in new window
  • Chair of Trustees governance statement Opens in new window
  • COVID-19 policy Opens in new window
Manage cookies

We’re listening — tell us what you think

  • Something didn’t work…

    Report bugs here

  • All feedback is valuable

    Please share your general feedback

  • Member of Emerald Engage?

    You can join in the discussion by joining the community or logging in here.
    You can also find out more about Emerald Engage.

Join us on our journey

  • Platform update page

    Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

  • Questions & More Information

    Answers to the most commonly asked questions here