Perspectives on Political Parties is a collection of primary documents that show the changing understandings of partisan politics during the nineteenth century, the first era in which parties played a central role in governing. The texts taken from British, American, German and French publication, speak to today's students and scholars of history and political science by showing the deep roots of still-current debates about representative democracy and mass politics. The reader is designed to fill a hole in contemporary teaching and scholarship by assembling hard to access sources that form the basis of modern debates about parties.

Autorentext
SUSAN SCARROW is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston, Texas. She is author of Parties and their Members and editor of two volumes, Party Democracy and Direct Democracy and The Politics of Anti-Party Sentiment.

Inhalt
Introduction: Coming to Terms with Parties in the Nineteenth Century PART 1: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ANTECEDENTS The Patriot King and Parties: Henry Saint-John, Viscount Bolingbroke, 1735 Of Parties in General: David Hume, 1747 Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents: Edmund Burke, 1770 Farewell Address to Congress: George Washington, 1796 PART 2: THE PLACE OF PARTIES IN HEALTHY POLITICAL SYSTEMS Remarks on Party: Henry Lord Brougham, 1839 Parties: the Office they Fulfil in a Republic: Frederick Grimke, 1848 The Party Organism: Gustave Struve-1848 Elements of Society in France: François Guizot, 1849 What is a Political Party? Johan Caspar Bluntschli, 1869 Parties in the State: Robert von Mohl, 1872 The Place of Party in the Political System: Anson Morse, 1891 Party Government: Charles Richardson, 1892 The Evils of Party: Nathan Cree, 1892 What is a Party? Anson Morse, 1896 PART 3: PARTIES AND LEGISLATURES On Opposition Parties in Germany and Elsewhere: Wilhelm Traugott Krug, 1836 Evils and Dangers of Parliamentary Government: Henry George, Earl Grey, 1858 A Plea for the Constitution: John Austin, 1859 Parties and the House of Commons: Walter Bagehot, 1867 The Parliamentary Regime and Parties in Italy: Émile de Laveleye, 1871 Parties and Party Groups (I): Heinrich von Treitschke, 1871 Responsible Party Government: Woodrow Wilson, 1885 The Price of Party Government: William S. Lilly, 1900 PART 4: PARTY TYPES AND PARTY SYSTEMS Parties in the United States: Alexis de Tocqueville, 1883 The Four Parties: Friedrich Rohmer, 1844 Parties in the Life of the State: Gottlieb Christian Abt, 1848 Parties and Party Groups (II): Heinrich von Treitschke, 1871 Parties and Party Government: Henry Sidgwick, 1891 Governments and Parties in Continental Europe: Abbot Lawrence Lowell, 1896 PART 5: PARTY ORGANIZATION AND CANDIDATE SELECTION Tendencies and Evils of Political Platforms: Ezra Seaman, 1863 Party Organizations and their Nominations to Public Office in New York City:A.C.Bernheim, 1888 Party Organizations: James Bryce, 1891 Political Organizations in the United States and England: James Bryce, 1893 Party Organization: Henry Jones Ford, 1900 Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties: Mosei Ostrogorski, 1902