Party Choice and Support for Demagogues: An Experimental Examination*

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

E-ISSN: 1537-5943|63|1|100-110

ISSN: 0003-0554

Source: American Political Science Review, Vol.63, Iss.1, 1969-03, pp. : 100-110

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Abstract

The relationship of parties to democracy and to political stability has concerned scholars for years. Extant party systems have almost continually been under attack by reformers bent on achieving various objectives, among them greater party responsibility, greater honesty, and greater efficiency of governmental operation. But party systems have not suffered from a lack of defenders: reformers have often been engaged in vigorous debate. Such controversy, apart from the merits of the arguments on either side, focuses attention on a number of interesting empirical propositions about parties in democratic systems. These propositions, unfortunately, have not often been put to rigorous systematic test.