Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-7l9ct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-11T11:08:31.682Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Party Aggregation and the Number of Parties in India and the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Pradeep Chhibber  and
Ken Kollman
Pradeep Chhibber
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Ken Kollman
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We rely on data from India and the United States to show that political and economic centralization can influence the number of national parties in single-member simple-plurality electoral systems. Historically, in both countries the number of parties in local electoral districts has been near two, but the number of national parties has fluctuated. Periods of a small number of national parties in both countries correspond to periods of centralization. We argue that, as national governments centralize power and make policies that affect local areas, candidates have greater incentives to associate with national organizations, and voters have greater incentives to abandon locally competitive but nationally noncompetitive parties.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 92 , Issue 2 , June 1998 , pp. 329 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Aldrich, John. 1995. Why Parties? Chicago:University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Amorim, Octavio Neto, and Cox, Gary. 1997. “Electoral Institutions, Cleavage Structures, and the Number of Parties.” American Journal of Political Science 41(January):149–74.Google Scholar
Bagchi, Amaresh, Bajaj, J. L., and Byrd, William A.. eds. 1992. State Finances in India. Delhi: Vikas.Google Scholar
Brass, Paul R. 1990. The Politics of India Since Independence. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brecher, Michael. 1966. Succession in India: A Study in Decision-Making. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Burnham, Walter Dean. 1970. Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Chandok, H. L. 1990. India Database: The Economy. New Delhi: Living Media.Google Scholar
Coleman, John J. 1996. Party Decline in America: Policy, Politics, and the Fiscal State. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary. 1987. “Duverger's Law and Strategic Voting.” University of California, San Diego. Typescript.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary. 1997. Making Votes Count. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary, and Monroe, Burt. 1995. “Strategic Voting Equilibria in Parliamentary Elections.” Presented at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Duverger, Maurice. [1954] 1963. Political Parties: Their Organization and Activity in the Modem State. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Eldersveld, Samuel. 1982. Political Parties in American Society. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Erie, Steven. 1988. Rainbow's End. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Feddersen, Timothy. 1992. “A Voting Model Implying Duverger's Law and Positive Turnout.” American Journal of Political Science 36(November):938–62.Google Scholar
Finegold, Kenneth, and Skocpol, Theda. 1995. State and Party in America's New Deal. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Frankel, Francine. 1978. India's Political Economy, 1947–1977: The Gradual Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Frankel, Francine. 1987. “Politics: the Failure to Rebuild Consensus.” in India Briefing, 1987, ed. Bouton, Marshall. Boulder, CO: Westview. Pp. 25–48.Google Scholar
Gaines, Brian. 1997. “Where to Count Parties.” Electoral Studies 16(March):49–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaines, Brian. N.d. “Duverger's Law and Canadian Exceptionalism.” Comparative Political Studies. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Gulati, I. S., ed. 1987. Centre-State Budgetary Transfers. Bombay: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hart, Henry C., ed. 1976. Indira Gandhi's India: A Political System Reappraised. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
India. Ministry of Agriculture. 1976. National Commission on Agriculture: Report. New Delhi: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
India. Lok Sabha Secretariat. 1989. The Constitution (Sixty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 1989. New Delhi: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
India. Ministry of Rural Development. 1992. The Constitution Seventy-Third Amendment Act 1992 on the Panchayats. New Delhi: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
India. Election Commission of India. 1996a. Statistical Report on General Elections, 1996, to the Eleventh Lok Sabha. Vol. 3. New Delhi: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
India. Ministry of Finance. 1996b. Economic Survey. New Delhi: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
India. Ministry of Finance. 1996c. Indian Public Finance Statistics: 1996. New Delhi: Government of India Press.Google Scholar
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. 1995. Candidate And Constituency Statistics of Elections in the United States, 1788–1990 [computer file] (Study #7757). 5th ICPSR ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor], 1995.Google Scholar
Jones, Mark. 1994. “Presidential Election Laws and Multipartism in Latin America.” Political Research Quarterly 47(March)41–57.Google Scholar
Kesselman, Mark. 1966. “French Local Politics: A Statistical Examination of Grass Roots Consensus.” American Political Science Review 60(December):963–73.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. 1949. Southern Politics. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
King, Desmond, and Janda, Kenneth. 1985. “Formalizing and Testing Duverger's Theories on Political Parties.” Comparative Political Studies 18(July):139–69.Google Scholar
Kochanek, Stanley. 1968. The Congress Party of India: The Dynamics of One-Party Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kochanek, Stanley. 1976. “Mrs. Gandhi's Pyramid: The New Congress.” in Indira Gandhi's India., ed. Hart, Henry C.. Boulder, CO:Westview. Pp. 93–124.Google Scholar
Kothari, Rajni. 1964. “The Congress ‘System’ in India.” Asian Survey 4(April):1161–73.Google Scholar
Laakso, Markku, and Taagepera, Rein. 1979. “‘Effective’ Number of Parties: A Measure with Application to West Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 12(April):3–27.Google Scholar
Lakdawala, D. T. 1993. “Issues Before the Ninth Finance Commission.” In The Ninth Finance Commission: Issues and Recommendations. New Delhi: National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Pp. 9–27.Google Scholar
Leys, Colin. 1959. “Models, Theories, and the Theory of Political Parties.” Political Studies 7(June): 127–46.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. 1994. Electoral Systems and Party Systems. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manor, James. 1988a. “Parties and the Party System.” In India's Democracy: An Analysis of Changing State-Society Relations, ed. Kohli, Atul. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp. 62–99.Google Scholar
Manor, James. 1988b. “Politics: Ambiguity, Disillusionment, and Ferment.” In India Briefing, 1988, ed. Bouton, Marshall and Oldenburg, Philip. Boulder, CO: Westview. Pp. 1–26.Google Scholar
Manor, James, ed. 1994. Nehru to the Nineties: The Changing Office of the Prime Minister in India. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
McCormick, Richard P. 1975. “Political Development and the Second American Party System.” In The American Party Systems, ed. Chambers, William N. and Burnham, Walter Dean. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Milkis, Sidney. 1993. The President and the Parties: The Transformation of the American Party System Since the New Deal. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mitra, Subrata Kumar. 1992. Power, Protest, and Participation: Local Elites and the Politics of Development in India. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Molinar, Juan. 1991. “Counting the Number of Parties: An Alternative Index.” American Political Science Review 85(December): 1383–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerson, Roger, and Weber, Robert. 1993. “A Theory of Voting Equilibria.” American Political Science Review 87(March):102–14.Google Scholar
Neter, John, Wasserman, William, and Kutner, Michael H.. 1989. Applied Regression Models. 2d ed. Homewood, IL: Irwin.Google Scholar
Ordeshook, Peter, and Shvetsova, Olga. 1994. “Ethnic Heterogeneity, District Magnitude, and the Number of Parties.” American Journal of Political Science 38(February):100–23.Google Scholar
Palfrey, Thomas. 1989. “A Mathematical Proof of Duverger's Law.” In Models of Strategic Choice in Politics, ed. Ordeshook, Peter. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Rae, Douglas. 1971. The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws. 2d ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Reddy, Ram G., and Haragopal, G.. 1985. “The Pyraveekar: ‘The Fixer’ in Rural India.” Asian Survey ll(November):1148–62.Google Scholar
Riker, William. 1976. “The Number of Political Parties: A Reexamination of Duverger's Law.” Comparative Politics 9(October):93–106.Google Scholar
Riker, William. 1982. “The Two-Party System and Duverger's Law.” American Political Science Review 76(December):753–66.Google Scholar
Rudolph, Lloyd I., and Rudolph, Susanne H.. 1987. In Pursuit of Lakshmi: The Political Economy of the Indian State. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1986. “The Influence of Electoral Systems: Faulty Laws or Faulty Method?” In Electoral Laws and Their Political Consequences, ed. Grofman, Bernard and Lijphart, Arend. New York: Agathon. Pp. 43–68.Google Scholar
Schlesinger, Joseph. 1991. Political Parties and the Winning of Office. Ann Arbor, MI. University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Shefter, Martin. 1994. Political Parties and the State: The American Historical Experience. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Shugart, Matthew, and Carey, John. 1992. Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, V. B., and Bose, Shankar. 1984. Elections in India: Data Handbook on Lok Sabha Elections, 1952–80. New Delhi: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Singh, V. B., and Bose, Shankar. 1994. Elections in India: Data Handbook on Lok Sabha Elections, 1986–1994. New Delhi: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 1995. Social Policy in the United States: Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Skowronek, Stephen. 1982. Building a New American State: The Expansion of National Administrative Capacities. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taagepera, Rein. 1997. “Effective Number of Parties for Incomplete Data.” Electoral Studies 16(June): 145–51.Google Scholar
Taagepera, Rein, and Shugart, Matthew. 1989. Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Taagepera, Rein, and Shugart, Matthew. 1993. “Predicting the Number of Parties: A Quantitative Model of Duverger's Mechanical Effect.” American Political Science Review 87(June):455–64.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 1975. Historical Statistics of the United States. Washington, DC: Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
Vanderbok, William. 1990. “The Tiger Triumphant: The Mobilization and Alignment of the Indian Electorate.” British Journal of Political Science 20(April):237–61.Google Scholar
Wagner, Adolf. 1958. “Three Extracts on Public Finance.” In Classics in the Theory of Public Finance, eds. Musgrave, R. A. and Peacock, A. P.. London: MacMillan. Pp. 1–15.Google Scholar
Weiner, Myron. 1987. “Rajiv Gandhi: A Midterm Assessment.” In India Briefing, 1987, ed. Bouton, Marshall. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Wildavsky, Aaron. 1959. “A Methodological Critique of Duverger's Political Parties.” Journal of Politics 21(May):303–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yadav, Yogendra. 1996. “Reconfiguration in Indian Politics: State Assembly Elections, 1993–95.” Economic and Political Weekly 31(January):95–104.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.