"The Adoption of direct primaries in the United States" by Eric Lawrence

Selected Works of Todd Donovan

Follow Contact

Article

The Adoption of direct primaries in the United States

Party Politics (2013)

Eric Lawrence, George Washington University
Todd Donovan, Western Washington University
Shaun Bowler, University of California, Riverside

Link

Abstract

This article asks why, and when, the process of nominating candidates in the United States changed from conventions to direct primaries. We conduct an event history analysis to investigate rival explanations for why the rules governing nominations changed. One credits reformist pressures that were largely external to the interests of the major political parties. Another proposes that party elites adopted direct primaries to protect their internal interests. We produce some results consistent with each explanation, but find the weight of our evidence supports the idea that rules changed in response to anti-party reform pressures.

Keywords

Changing rules,
Primary elections

Disciplines

Political Science

Publication Date

January 1, 2013

DOI

10.1177/1354068810393264

Publisher Statement

Published by Sage

Citation Information

Eric Lawrence, Todd Donovan and Shaun Bowler. "The Adoption of direct primaries in the United States" Party Politics Vol. 19 Iss. 1 (2013) p. 3 - 18
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/todd_donovan/66/