John Berg's
Book Reviews
Third Party politics
I dislike the term "third party"--it is inaccurate, as there are more
than three parties, and it implies acceptance of the two-party system.
Personally, I think fundamental improvement in American politics will only
come once we change the election laws so that more than two parties can
compete. However, I still use the term because people usually know
what it means.
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J. David Gillespie, Politics
at the Periphery: Third Parties in Two-Party America (1993) is well
worth reading, despite its age. Gillespie develops a basic typology
of third parties, and a historical survey of the third-party scene.
His greatest contribution is a large number of case studies of individual
parties, some of them very small.
-
David Reynolds, Democracy
Unbound : Progressive Challenges to the Two Party System (1997) is
an impassioned call for left electoral activism, backed up by case studies
of grassroots political organizing across the U.S.A. Reynolds particularly
likes the New Party and the Labor Party, and also looks at progressive
activism within the Democratic Party. In fact, my major criticism
of the book is that he often seems not to notice that organizing within
the Democratic Party, however radical, does not "challenge the two
party system." Despite this disagreement, I think it is a great book,
fun to read and encouraging.
-
Paul S. Herrnson and John C. Green, eds., Multiparty
Politics in America (1997) is a book version of a workshop held at
the American Political Science Association annual meeting in 1996.
Some chapters are political science studies of small parties; others are
by activists in the Libertarian Party, the Reform Party, and the Greens--and
by Richard Winger, a Libertarian who publishes the very valuable Ballot
Access News. There will be a second edition published in 2002.
-
Steven J. Rosenstone, Roy L. Behr, and Edward H. Lazarus, Third
Parties in America: Citizen Response to Major Party Failure, 2d ed.
(1996) is a conventional political science study of third parties in presidential
elections. The authors provide some good data, but like too many
mainstream commentators fail to notice the difference between third parties--that
is, groups with members and some sort of long-term organization--and independent
one-shot candidates.
-
Theodore J. Lowi and Joseph Romance, A
Republic of Parties? Debating the Two Party System (1998) is a debate
for and against the merits of the two-party system.
-
Micah L. Sifry, Spoiling
for a Fight: Third-Party Politics in America uses three case studies:
Ralph Nader's Green party campaign for president in 2000, the Reform paty
and the Perot campaign, and the rise of the Working Families party in New
York, to examine the prospects for third parties in America.
-
Jacob Lentz, Electing
Jesse Ventura: A Third-Party Success Story (2001) is just what the
title implies, a study of Ventura's dramatic victory in Minnesota.
Lentz looks at the structural and cultural reasons for Ventura's success,
and suggests some changes in the electoral system for other states.
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Stephen I. Frank and Steven C. Wagner, We
Shocked the World!: A Case Study of Jesse Ventura's Election As Governor
of Minnesota (1999) is, of course, another study of the same case.
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Last but not least, Ralph Nader, Crashing
the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President (2002)
is Nader's story of his 2000 campaign. If you want to be cutting-edge,
you can buy this one in a digital
edition (formatted for Microsoft Reader, available free).
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Revised March 20, 2002