Jay S. Goodman

Political Recruitment in Four Selection Systems

IVERSE ACTIVISTS in American politics, from municipal reformers to bosses, have perceived that the shape of the electoral system would affect Jt―~ their own fortunes at the ballot box. Their perceptions about their stakes in the structural rules of the game have led to repeated controversies about the impact of nonpartisan versus partisan elections and, to a lesser degree, about such provisions as single versus multi-member districts. The reformers who devised items such as the nonpartisan election in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century had a number of consequences distinctly in mind: reduction in party activity, insulation of local from national issues, increased efficiency in the management of government, and selection of &dquo;better&dquo; people for public office.’ The concern of the present article is with the recruitment aspect of the method of political selection. The problem is not trivial; Donald R. Matthews has observed that &dquo;the convention that the political decision-maker’s behavior and decisions are influenced by his personal life experiences not only has a long and honorable history, but is also substantiated by modern psychological and sociological research.&dquo; 2