Party Movements in the United States And Canada ─ Strategies of Persistence

Party movements, in the usage of Schwartz (sociology, New York U.), can be what are traditionally called "third parties," social movements seeking change within major parties, or other organizations that are willing to work within the electoral system to achieve their goals. In this volume, he seeks to explain how they manage to frequently persist in the US and Canadian political systems despite the characteristics that have led some to label them "permanently failing organizations." He examines party movement persistence in eight regional settings, analyzing how lasting organizations have addressed the issues of providing legitimacy and a system of meaning; forging ties with other organizations in the environment; controlling and coordinating contributions from participants; recruiting, training, and replacing participants; defining and redefining goals; and inducing commitment from participants. His principal argument is that the principle effects on persistence stem from the resource dependency of party movements and the agency of movement actors to employ strategies of factions, takeovers, purges, mergers, makeovers, and abeyance in order to deal with endemic problems. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mildred A. Schwartz is professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and visiting scholar in the Department of Sociology at New York University.