World War I and the “System of 1896”

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10191050
AutoresRobert P Saldin (University of Montana, autor de correspondencia)
Año2010
Volumen72
Número3
Páginas825-836
Fecha de publicación2010-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-3816 • E-ISSN: 1468-2508
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/s0022381610000198
OpenAlexW2157118202
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas32

Realignment theory has long offered the primary framework for understanding American political history, particularly as it relates to the party system. The “System of 1896” is central to the theory and holds that William McKinley’s victory in that year ushered in a Republican-dominated era lasting until Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election in 1932. The 10 years of partial—and six years of total—Democratic control of Congress and the White House (1910–20) during this 36-year stretch (1896–1932) remains an anomaly among realignment theorists. I conduct content analyses of Democratic and Republican party documents and media commentary and find that World War I played a crucial role in the GOP’s resurgence in 1920. This conclusion highlights realignment theory’s failure to account for the important role of international events and contingency in general

Contingency · Democracy · Democratic Theory · Economic history · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Victory · White (mutation · World War II · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · History · Law · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society · Social Policy and Reform Studies