Party Leaders, Power and Change

Abstract

Shocks to the incentive structures of party organizations are few and far between, making it difficult to see how different types of party professionals respond to attempts to change the systems providing them with power. I make use of one such shock - the adoption of the McGovern-Fraser reforms by the Democratic parties of the 50 American states in the early 1970s - to test the proposition that party leaders who wield a great deal of power over their organizations are more likely to resist changes intended to decentralize power than party leaders who do not. With the help of a duration model, I find that party leaders respond to reform movements in predictable fashion. Leaders of traditional, organized parties are less likely to reform party rules than other types of leaders. However, electoral incentives also play an important role. Party leaders, even while safeguarding their power, must monitor the desires of important constituencies.