May's Law of Curvilinear Disparity Revisited
Leaders, Officers, Members and Voters in British Political Parties
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6316619 |
|---|---|
| Authors | P Norris (0000-0001-8632-4636, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1995 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-47 |
| Publication date | 1995-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Party Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-0688 • E-ISSN: 1460-3683 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1354068895001001002 |
| OpenAlex | W2093116845 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 97 |
| References cited | 23 |
Explaining ideological conflict has always been a classic theme of studies of party organizations. The aim of this paper is to re-examine May's law, based on rational choice theory, which suggests that due to differential incentives sub-leaders are likely to prove the most extreme stratum in party organizations, while non-leaders are the most moderate, and top leaders are located equidistant between these groups. The study, based on large-scale surveys of politicians, local constituency officers, party members and voters in the 1992 British general election, throws considerable doubt on this proposition
Constraint (computer-aided design · Economics · Epistemology · Ideology · Incentive · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Proposition · Sociology · Theme (computing · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies
Re-electing the party leader
Technopopulism
Rethinking Party Reform
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Party Competition between Unequals
Parties Without Partisans
The Politics of Electoral Reform
Origines et impacts des hyper-utilisateurs et hyper-utilisatrices en cyberdémocratie. Le cas du pétitionnement en ligne
Power users in online democracy
The Electoral Success of the Left in Latin America
Party institutionalization and intra-party preference homogeneity
Har den interna demokratin i politiska partier försämrats över tid
La relation entre le mode de sélection des candidats et la congruence idéologique entre masses et élites
Policy congruence and strategic loyalty
The beliefs of young parliamentary candidates on democracy and the moderation role of populism
Parliamentary candidate selection in the Conservative Party
Deliberative democracy and political parties
New forms of political participation. Changing demands or changing opportunities to participate in political parties
A digital principal? Substantive representation in the case of the Italian Five Star Movement
Membership ballots and the value of intra-party democracy
The British Labour Party’s leadership election of 2015
Parliamentarians versus party members? Leadership selection systems in the British Conservative and Labour parties
Electing the Leader
Political Participation
Congruence between voters and representatives in preferences for social policies in Spain
Party research and party support aid
New people, new policy
Social media partisans vs. party members
Representative versus Responsible Government and May's Law
Great minds think alike? Ideological congruence between party members and leadership candidates
May’s Law in changing times—an empirical assessment of the German case
Analyzing ideological disparities in multi-speed membership parties
Declining memberships, changing members? European political party members in a new era
Bringing agency back into the study of partisan politics
The impact of party organisational changes on democracy
Party goals and interest group influence on parties
Politicians’ Labor Market Experiences Across Party Families
Representation and Policy Responsiveness
Why Do Parties Change Position? Party Organization and Environmental Incentives
Losing Touch? The Political Representativeness of Swedish Parties, 1985–1994
Party Reforms and Electoral Systems
Participating Locally and Nationally
Pragmatists, Ideologues and the General Law of Curvilinear Disparity
A Reconceptualisation of the Antecedents of Party Activism
Not as Bad as We Feared or Even Worse Than We Imagined? Assessing and Explaining Conservative Party Members’ Views on Coalition
Are Political Staffers out of Touch with Grassroots Party Members? Assessing Congruence between Professionals and Volunteers
The Death of May’s Law
Inclusivity and Decentralisation of Candidate Selectorates
Intra-party conflict at grassroots
The party (un)faithful
May’s law may prevail
Rethinking intra-party cohesion
Effects of party primaries on electoral performance
Radical or aligned? Assessing issue congruence between youth wing elites, parliamentary candidates and voters in Norway
Emancipated party members
The Problem with Party Finance
Social and ideological representativeness
Explaining the Party-Policy Link
Candidate selection methods and policy cohesion in parties
From May’s Laws to May’s legacy
The Origins of Opinion of American Party Activists
The lives of the party
Democracy within Norwegian Political Parties
Being the opposition in contemporary Russia
The limits of organizational innovation and multi-speed membership
Ideological misfits
The consequences of membership incentives
Does policy motivation drive party activism? A study of party activists in three Asian democracies
Intra-party heterogeneity in policy preferences and its effect on issue salience
Does the mode of candidate selection affect the representativeness of parties
When does the left do the right thing? A study of party position change on welfare policies
Ruling Majority and Opposition
Leadership Elections
Swedish politicians’ preferences regarding the privatisation of elderly care
Congressional Leadership 1965–96
Why primaries? The party’s tradeoff between policy and valence
Attract voters or appease activists? Opposition parties’ dilemma and party policy change
Politics matters
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and Immigration Policies
Still Connected? Attitudinal Representativeness of German Party Memberships
What parties want from their leaders
Young radicals, moderates and aligned
The Ideological Congruence Controversy
Structuring Intra-Party Politics
Postmatérialisme et clivages partisans au Québec
Political Representation in Comparative Politics
The Impact of Campaign Finance Laws on Party Competition
A Test of Core Vote Theories
What Makes Parties Adapt to Voter Preferences? The Role of Party Organization, Goals and Ideology
Which Factors Influence Issue Salience in Electoral Manifestos? New Insights From the Salience of Social Services in Dutch Local Elections
Mobilising volunteer activists in political parties
Australian Greens party members and supporters
Fifty Shades of Green? Political differences between elites, members and supporters ofEurope Ecologie Les Verts
So who really does the donkey work in 'multi-speed membership parties'? Comparing the election campaign activity of party members and party supporters
Transformação intrapartidária? Um estudo sobre as percepções de poder e gestão entre jovens filiados
The Crisis of Party Democracy, Cognitive Mobilization, and the Case for Making Parties More Deliberative
Reducing the gap between leaders and voters? Elite polarization, outbidding competition, and the rise of secessionism in Catalonia
The new Presidential elite
Political Parties in Western Democracies
British Social Attitudes
Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties
The Political Attitudes of Australian Voters and Candidates
The Problem of Party Government
Power in the Labour Party
Labour's last chance? The 1992 election and beyond
The Internal Politics of Parties
Opinion Structure of Political Parties
The Structure of Opinion in American Political Parties
Do Candidates Make a Difference? Gender, Race, Ideology and Incumbency
The Logics of Electoral Politics
Political Parties and Political Representation
American Behavioral Scientist
Issue Conflict and Consensus among Party Leaders and Followers
Did the British marginals vanish? Proportionality and exaggeration in the British electoral system revisited
The Political Ideas of English Party Activists
Intraparty Attitude Conflict
Constituency Labour Parties in Britain
| Unique citing works | 97 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,23 |
| Citation span | 1996 - 2026 (31) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 96 |