ABSTRACT
To study the dynamics of American politics means to try to understand the inner workings of change, to seek to figure out "what makes things happen". The cultural tradition of populism and the institutionalized system of primary elections is a cluster. The reciprocal interactions among ideas, interests, and institutions have been vividly demonstrated in the group's discussions of political deliberation and choice. Paradoxically then, the more we take account of external environmental factors, such as socioeconomic or technological changes and their impact on the material "interests" of groups, the more important it is to pay attention to the institutional-ideational nexus. Power makes politics. An evolutionary narrative of political dynamics need not tell just-so stories if one recognize that there are other processes at work besides the adapting of political ideas, interests, and institutions to the selecting tests of the environment.
