ABSTRACT
Grouped under the heading of election arrangements are various governmental rules, distinguishable from constitutional structure by their readier alterability. In fact, many election arrangements are so readily altered that their inclusion here among developmental circumstances might well be questioned. A more purely constitutional circumstance for the development of political parties is found in the provisions for the relations of executive and legislative authority. The circumstances relevant to the development of political parties are broad and various. Topics they include are the enlargement of the suffrage, the social structure, the constitutionally provided executive-legislative relationship, the degree of federalism, and the election arrangements. Federalism is both a social and a structural phenomenon. A nation’s governmental structure is likely to be significantly federal only if its society is sectionally diverse, or was at the start. In summary, constitutional and social circumstances have by no means been entirely unfavorable to the development of American parties.
