Dean Mcsweeney
Biographic Data
| ID | 4379592 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dean Mcsweeney |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dean |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcsweeney |
| SIGNATURE | MCSWEENEY D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the West of England |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 29 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Early Voting and Informed Voters in America
OVER 30% of votes in the 2008 US election were cast before election day. Early voting was introduced to enhance democracy, intended to increase the size and diversity of the voting public, and to improve the efficiency of election administration. But early voting carries risks to the democratic quality of elections. This article shows that in some elections these risks materialised in some elections in 2008. Early voting requires choices to be ma…
Primary Elections for Britain
The coalition's programme for government promises to fund 200 open postal primaries during the current Parliament, targeted at seats which have not changed hands for many years. The lessons from the two open postal primaries used in 2009 are that they will change the numbers and characteristics of those involved in choosing candidates, the criteria for selection and the type of candidates chosen. Much will remain unchanged. Primaries are unlikely…
National and Local Party Election Agendas
In the saliency theory of elections parties are seen as monolithic. Each party emphasises the issues they own to gain electoral advantage. There are no rival agendas generated by different factions within the party or its territorial subdivisions. We test this assumption in the 2005 UK general election, comparing national party communications with those of local parties in the South West of England. We found consistency in the issue emphases of L…
The Front-Runner Falls
From 1980 until 2000, two indicators successfully predicted presidential nominees in advance of the contest: the front-runner in the latest poll of party identifiers and the leader in fundraising in the previous year. In 2004, both indicators predicted Howard Dean to win the Democratic nomination and both were incorrect. In accounting for the failure of these predictions, this article shows that Dean was an untypically weak front-runner compared …
Reform in a Cold Climate
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002 was the first major change in US federal campaign finance law in a quarter of a century. Many attempts at reform had failed in that period. Few members of Congress were enthusiasts for reform, the two parties and two chambers had conflicting interests to protect, successive presidents did not promote the issue and public pressure for reform was weak. When reform was achieved in 2002, many of these…
Changing the Rules Changed the Game
Some authors have argued that the change in the method of Conservative party leadership selection introduced in 1965 was modest in impact. This paper argues that the change in procedures transformed both the process and its outcomes. The effects of the procedural change are demonstrated by examining all leadership selections since 1945, comparing those conducted by informal consultation with those decided by ballots of MPs. The transformation is …
Republicans in the South
This article explains the failure of the Republican party to reproduce their dominance of the South in presidential elections at lower electoral levels. First, the foreign policy and social issues that have benefitted Republican presidential candidates have lower salience in state and congressional elections. Second, sustained Republican control of the White House has exposed the party to recurrent mid-term setbacks at lower electoral levels. Thi…
The Political Science of Democratic Transition in Eastern Europe
Political science is presented with an unprecedented case of democratic transition in Eastern Europe with a set of societies that are said to have been atomized by party state organs and without the other formal preconditions for transition to liberal democracy. The article surveys current writings and theories on transition to see whether they fit the East European cases. The stress in the literature on the primacy of endogenous factors, the rol…
Changing the Rules Changed the Game
Some authors have argued that the change in the method of Conservative party leadership selection introduced in 1965 was modest in impact. This paper argues that the change in procedures transformed both the process and its outcomes. The effects of the procedural change are demonstrated by examining all leadership selections since 1945, comparing those conducted by informal consultation with those decided by ballots of MPs. The transformation is …
The Political Science of Democratic Transition in Eastern Europe
Political science is presented with an unprecedented case of democratic transition in Eastern Europe with a set of societies that are said to have been atomized by party state organs and without the other formal preconditions for transition to liberal democracy. The article surveys current writings and theories on transition to see whether they fit the East European cases. The stress in the literature on the primacy of endogenous factors, the rol…
Primary Elections for Britain
The coalition's programme for government promises to fund 200 open postal primaries during the current Parliament, targeted at seats which have not changed hands for many years. The lessons from the two open postal primaries used in 2009 are that they will change the numbers and characteristics of those involved in choosing candidates, the criteria for selection and the type of candidates chosen. Much will remain unchanged. Primaries are unlikely…
National and Local Party Election Agendas
In the saliency theory of elections parties are seen as monolithic. Each party emphasises the issues they own to gain electoral advantage. There are no rival agendas generated by different factions within the party or its territorial subdivisions. We test this assumption in the 2005 UK general election, comparing national party communications with those of local parties in the South West of England. We found consistency in the issue emphases of L…
Reform in a Cold Climate
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002 was the first major change in US federal campaign finance law in a quarter of a century. Many attempts at reform had failed in that period. Few members of Congress were enthusiasts for reform, the two parties and two chambers had conflicting interests to protect, successive presidents did not promote the issue and public pressure for reform was weak. When reform was achieved in 2002, many of these…
Republicans in the South
This article explains the failure of the Republican party to reproduce their dominance of the South in presidential elections at lower electoral levels. First, the foreign policy and social issues that have benefitted Republican presidential candidates have lower salience in state and congressional elections. Second, sustained Republican control of the White House has exposed the party to recurrent mid-term setbacks at lower electoral levels. Thi…
The Political Science of Democratic Transition in Eastern Europe
Political science is presented with an unprecedented case of democratic transition in Eastern Europe with a set of societies that are said to have been atomized by party state organs and without the other formal preconditions for transition to liberal democracy. The article surveys current writings and theories on transition to see whether they fit the East European cases. The stress in the literature on the primacy of endogenous factors, the rol…
Republicans in the South
This article explains the failure of the Republican party to reproduce their dominance of the South in presidential elections at lower electoral levels. First, the foreign policy and social issues that have benefitted Republican presidential candidates have lower salience in state and congressional elections. Second, sustained Republican control of the White House has exposed the party to recurrent mid-term setbacks at lower electoral levels. Thi…
Changing the Rules Changed the Game
Some authors have argued that the change in the method of Conservative party leadership selection introduced in 1965 was modest in impact. This paper argues that the change in procedures transformed both the process and its outcomes. The effects of the procedural change are demonstrated by examining all leadership selections since 1945, comparing those conducted by informal consultation with those decided by ballots of MPs. The transformation is …
Reform in a Cold Climate
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002 was the first major change in US federal campaign finance law in a quarter of a century. Many attempts at reform had failed in that period. Few members of Congress were enthusiasts for reform, the two parties and two chambers had conflicting interests to protect, successive presidents did not promote the issue and public pressure for reform was weak. When reform was achieved in 2002, many of these…
The Front-Runner Falls
From 1980 until 2000, two indicators successfully predicted presidential nominees in advance of the contest: the front-runner in the latest poll of party identifiers and the leader in fundraising in the previous year. In 2004, both indicators predicted Howard Dean to win the Democratic nomination and both were incorrect. In accounting for the failure of these predictions, this article shows that Dean was an untypically weak front-runner compared …
National and Local Party Election Agendas
In the saliency theory of elections parties are seen as monolithic. Each party emphasises the issues they own to gain electoral advantage. There are no rival agendas generated by different factions within the party or its territorial subdivisions. We test this assumption in the 2005 UK general election, comparing national party communications with those of local parties in the South West of England. We found consistency in the issue emphases of L…
Primary Elections for Britain
The coalition's programme for government promises to fund 200 open postal primaries during the current Parliament, targeted at seats which have not changed hands for many years. The lessons from the two open postal primaries used in 2009 are that they will change the numbers and characteristics of those involved in choosing candidates, the criteria for selection and the type of candidates chosen. Much will remain unchanged. Primaries are unlikely…
Early Voting and Informed Voters in America
OVER 30% of votes in the 2008 US election were cast before election day. Early voting was introduced to enhance democracy, intended to increase the size and diversity of the voting public, and to improve the efficiency of election administration. But early voting carries risks to the democratic quality of elections. This article shows that in some elections these risks materialised in some elections in 2008. Early voting requires choices to be ma…
Political science (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Public Administration (5 works) · Public Administration (5 works) · Democracy (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Political economy (4 works)