SGER: Collaborative Research: Healing the Rifts -A Study of Intraparty Factionalism at the Presidential Nominating Conventions

民主党2008年总统候选人的竞选持续时间更长，党内分歧也比近代史上任何一次此类竞选都要严重。相比之下，共和党的提名竞争相对迅速，并没有在党内产生深刻的分歧。这项研究将阐明现代政党的性质。一个世纪前，共和党可能是一个正式的等级制度，在这个制度下，老板可以对普通员工发号施令，几乎不会有任何阻力。今天的政党最好被认为是由正式政党团体、利益集团和捐助者组成的网络。正是这些网络使得政党能够应对危机，比如在竞争激烈的选举中出现党内分歧。研究人员将在2008年8月和9月对参加共和党和民主党全国代表大会的代表进行采访，以调查这些党内分歧和社会网络的作用，作为弥合分歧的努力的一部分。受访者将被问及他们对总统候选人提名的主要候选人的看法，他们以前参与党的活动，他们在各种利益集团的成员资格，以及他们对党内民主重要性的文化信仰。受访者将在深秋进行后续访谈，以确定秋季竞选对党内派系主义的影响。研究人员将测试这样的假设：参与扩大的政党网络（包括利益集团和政党职位）会减轻这种派系主义，参与这样的网络会促进对政党的忠诚，而不是对特定候选人的忠诚。这项研究将对政治观察家们理解这次总统选举季的方式产生更广泛的影响。记者和其他观察人士将能够利用我们的这项研究，对这些分歧进行具体的测量和定性评估，而不是对初选季节的暴躁性质及其对大选的影响做出假设。此外，本研究还将涉及使用多个机构的研究生和本科生作为调查管理员。这些学生将接受专业培训，丰富他们的学术经验。

The Democratic Party's contest for the 2008 presidential nominee went on longer and divided the party more deeply than any other such contest in recent history. By contrast, the Republican Party's nomination race was relatively quick and did not generate deep fissures within the party. This research will shed light on the nature of modern political parties. The party is not the formal hierarchy it may have been a century ago, in which bosses could dictate the choice of nominee to the rank and file with little expectation of resistance. Today's parties are better thought of as networks of formal party groups, interest groups, and donors. It is these networks that allow parties to manage a crisis, such as an intraparty rift during a competitive election. The researchers will investigate these intraparty rifts and the role of social networks as part of the effort to heal them by conducting interviews of delegates to both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in August and September of 2008. Respondents will asked their opinions about the major candidates for the presidential nominations, their previous involvement in party activities, their membership in various interest groups, and their cultural beliefs about the importance of intraparty democracy. Respondents will be contacted for follow-up interviews in the late fall to determine the effect of fall campaigns on intraparty factionalism. The researchers will test the hypotheses that involvement in expanded party networks (including interest groups and party posts) mitigates this factionalism and that participation in such networks promotes loyalty to party rather than to a specific candidate. This research will have broader impacts on the way this presidential election season is understood by political observers. Rather than making assumptions about the fractious nature of the primary season and its effect on the general election, journalists and other observers will be able to draw upon our this research for concrete measurements and qualitative assessments of these rifts. Additionally, this research will also involve the use of graduate and undergraduate students at multiple institutions as survey administrators. These students will receive specialized training that will enrich their academic experiences.