Talk:Party system

all this text and bibliog is by RJensen

Is it complete? Its scope seems somewhat parochial. Nick Gardner 05:45, 24 November 2007 (CST)

It's complete for the U.S. I would encourage more cosmopolitan scholars to cover the rest of the world. Richard Jensen 06:15, 24 November 2007 (CST)

Hmm, either we should rename this article to be focused on the USA or it needs to be restructured completely for the world. I say this because the separate headings mean nothing to me in comparative politics [this is because I know nothing about US politics, as well]. --Martin Baldwin-Edwards 07:13, 24 November 2007 (CST)

we have in place the outline for Canada and Japan, as well as a good bibliog for the rest of the world. Authors: start your wordprocessors! Richard Jensen 08:42, 24 November 2007 (CST)

Should there not be some material that is not country-specific? For example, what about the different political consequences of two-party, multi-party and dominant-party systems, the effect of proportional representation, Duverger's law and all that? Or should that be in another article? Nick Gardner 09:11, 24 November 2007 (CST)

yes that should be included (it's in the bibliography with Lipset and Sartori) Richard Jensen 09:42, 24 November 2007 (CST)

Richard: I have made a start on introducing that material by inserting a "definitions" paragraph, but I have run into trouble over inconsistency with the opening statement.

If you agree. I will get over that problem by substituting the following opening statement:

• Party systems determine the extent to which individual political parties participate in government. Their formation and behavior are influenced by the electoral systems in operation and by the means that they adopt for funding, information, and selection of candidates and office holders. In American history, party systems have been separated by Realigning elections or "critical elections" each of which destroyed an existing system and created a new one.

What do you think? Nick Gardner 08:56, 27 November 2007 (CST)

• • try this: "Party systems comprises the parties that compete for power and their voting base and method of selecting issues and leaders; it also includes the rules, organizational methods, communication systems, and campaign techniques used to contest elections. In American history, party systems have been separated by Realigning elections or "critical elections" each of which destroyed an existing system and created a new one." Richard Jensen 09:50, 27 November 2007 (CST)

In proposing something totally different, you have not explained your objection to my proposal. I should perhaps have explained that the problem that prompted me to suggest a different opening statement was that the existing statement was so broad as to include matters that go so far beyond the conventional topic of party systems as to encompass large chunks of other political theory. That makes almost impossible to introduce the missing material without bringing in a great deal of other material that would normally be covered elsewhere. Unless you are prepared to supply the necessary drafting, why not let others determine the scope of the article? Nick Gardner 16:34, 27 November 2007 (CST)

We're talking I guess about the opening sentence; the differences are not that great and I don't see a problem there. What the article needs: 1) coverage of various counties and 2) discussion of general theoretical models (Dahl, Sartori, Michels, Lipset, etc> Richard Jensen 16:42, 27 November 2007 (CST)