Pressure and Politics in a Decentralized Candidate Selection System

Abstract

The candidate selection process in the United States has been, since the second half of the 20th century, one of the most inclusive and decentralized among the developed democracies. While such systems often presuppose party weakness or lack of control over the process, this article shows that patterns of campaign finance indicate that party weakness over candidate selection in the U.S. case may be overestimated. It also argues that a very open selection process offers opportunities for insurgent movements within parties that bring new ideas and demands. Finally, it suggests that political culture may mediate the relationship between party strength and democratized selection methods.

An e-government crowdsourcing framework: suspect investigation and identification

“…In addition to his charisma, his campaign was successful thanks to a digital strategy based on collaborative participation of people on social networks. MyBO (my.barackobama.com), a Web platform designed specifically for the event, enabled Obama's "e-supporters" to create social groups, participate in events and even raise funds for the campaign financing (Craig, 2016). The move from the "I" to "WE" (hence the slogan "yes, we can") allowed the implementation of the concept of crowdsourcing by involving citizens (þ10 millions) to create videos and fan-art and broadcast them on the Internet to express their support for their future president (Eranti and Lindman, 2013).…”