Party organization

Party organization, in party politics, comprises three different levels at which one can observe a party and its structure. The first is the micro level which is the party on the local level. This includes local municipalities and governor races. Above that there stands the mezzo level. The mezzo level is the State government. Finally, standing above these, there is the Macro level, the national government. This level includes senators, congressmen, and the President of the United States.

The micro level

The micro level is the party organization on the local level. The height of local party organizational strength was during the heyday of political machines. This occurred during the early and late 1900's when many American cities were governed by machines. Machines had a systematic hierarchy which today's party lack in structure. This is what made these parties so durable. Machines controlled the government absolutely within a county or city.

Machines kept their power on the local level by capitalizing on patronage jobs. They would hand out patronage jobs as rewards for those who supported the organization, not necissarily its ideology. In cities especially, machines gained a foothold by appealing to the poor. In some cases, they even sent Christmas baskets to gain their support. Leaders, known as bosses, also attended weddings, bailed drunks out from jails, and even helped the hungry and the homeless to gain their support.

After the era of machines, local party organizations began to decline. As machines failed, organizational strength floundered across the country. This took leadership, money, and the labor that ran the machines away from county and city parties, which eventually led to the rebuilding of local parties during the 1970's.In order to combat the machine, more volunteers were incorporated into the local party organization. As of late, they still depend on this volunteer effort. However, they are now not only richer, but also more active than they were after the decline of the political machine. They are known for more telethons, yard sign distributions, and get-out-the-vote drives now, than they were during the 1980s.

The mezzo level

The mezzo level refers to the state parties. State parties have had some traditional weaknesses. The organization itself was weak because its power was decentralized due to a lack of federations between local parties under the state. Also, +progressive reforms+ during the early 1900s limited the states influence over nomination and election campaigns for state offices. Candidates could not win state seats with the support of their party.

To strengthen the organization at the state level, state party orgs began to institutionalize during the 1960s. They have increased the amount of permanent state headquarters as well as fulltime paid state party chairs and staff. These three resources have fueled the growth at the state level considerably.

Top-down control

Top-down control is the most practical way of looking at party organization. It seems logical that power should flow from the top down. The National party sets the standard for those party structures below it to follow. The national party would select the issues that the party will focus on and all candidates below the national level would follow these ideals. Top down control would also suggest that power and influence comes from officials at the top of party structure.

Bottom-up control

Bottom-up control suggests that the party is controlled by the micro and mezzo levels of the party and that the macro level functions as a reaction to them. This makes sense also because those officials who run for office in the federal government level are expected to represent the states from which they come from. It is then the apparent responsibility of the elected officials at the district and state level to ensure that they are adiquatly represented in the house and senate. This would give more power to the micro and mezzo levels by giving them the responsibility over the voters.

Both

In order to fully understand party organization, it must be looked at from all levels. Depending on the issue you are discussing at a given time it may make more sense to look at the structure from a macro perspective. However, when discussing why a party is losing control over a certain district it would make more sense to analyze the party organization from a micro or mezzo level.

ee also

References

Further reading

* Hershey, Marjorie Randon. Party Politics in America 12th ed. 2007: Longman Classics in Political Science. page 110-111
* Cassino, Dr. "Party Organization." Fairleigh Dickinson University. Madison, NJ. 13 Sep 2007.

External links