National Party Organizations and Party Brands in American Politics: The Democratic and Republican National Committees, 1912-2016

Scholars have long debated the role and importance of the Democratic and Republican National Committees in American politics. In National Party Organizations and Party Brands in American Politics, Boris Heersink identifies a core DNC and RNC role that has thus far been missed: creating national party brands. Drawing on extensive historical case studies and quantitative analysis, Heersink argues that the DNC and RNC have consistently prioritized their role of using publicity to inform voters about their parties' policies and priorities from the beginning of the twentieth century onwards. Both committees invested heavily in political communication tools with the goal of shaping voters' perceptions of their parties. As Heersink shows, the DNC and RNC often have considerable freedom in determining what type of brands to promote, placing them in the center of major intra-party debates in the twentieth century--including Prohibition, civil rights, foreign affairs, and economic policy. Analytically rigorous and marshaling a vast body of research on US elections between 1912 and 2016, this book highlights how important national party organizations are in setting the agenda in American politics.

长期以来，学界围绕美国政治中民主党全国委员会（Democratic National Committee, DNC）与共和党全国委员会（Republican National Committee, RNC）的角色定位与重要性始终存在诸多争论。鲍里斯·赫辛克（Boris Heersink）在其专著《美国政治中的全国性政党组织与政党品牌》中，揭示了两党全国委员会迄今未被学界关注的一项核心职能：打造全国性政党品牌。依托海量历史案例研究与定量分析，赫辛克提出，自20世纪初起，民主党全国委员会与共和党全国委员会便始终将借助宣传向选民阐释本党政策与执政优先级作为核心工作。两委员会均投入巨额资源打造政治传播工具，旨在塑造选民对本党的认知形象。正如赫辛克所论证的，两党全国委员会在决定推广何种类型的政党品牌时往往拥有相当大的自主权，这也使其成为20世纪党内重大辩论的核心参与者——议题涵盖禁酒令、民权、外交事务与经济政策等领域。这部分析严谨扎实、整合了1912年至2016年间海量美国选举研究成果的著作，着重凸显了全国性政党组织在美国政治议程设定中所发挥的关键作用。