Party System Change and Political Career Structures in the U. S. Congress

We join concerns with party system change, ambition theory, and political career structures in a comparative analysis of the realignments of the 1930s, the Civil War period, and recent changes in the South. To understand the relationships among elections, party system change, and policy change, research must focus on the strategic responses of politicians to electoral change. Our findings indicate that politicians' interpretations of developing events and their decisions about how to react in light of their career goals are integral elements of the realigning process.