This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sinclair, B. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

From Party Voting To Regional Fragmentation

The House of Representatives, 1933-1956

University of California, Riverside

An examination of House roll call voting from 1933 to 1956 shows that heavily partisan voting during the 1930s gave way by the early 1950s to voting strongly influenced by region. The regional fragmentation is, in part, due to the development of new, party- splitting issues. The Republican split on international involvement and the Democratic split on civil liberties can be accounted for by historic differences in regional culture. The change in voting alignments on the government management and social welfare dimen sions cannot be explained by a change in the type of legislation coming to a vote. In these issue domains the 1930s were the period of nonincremental policy change. The blurring of party lines occurs during a period of normal politics. Burnham's theory offers the most satisfactory explanation. Party realignments are characterized by highly partisan voting alignments in the Congress. Once the crisis which precipitated the realignment is per ceived to be over, however, centrifugal constituency related forces again became predomi nant and the sharp differences between the parties become blurred.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?