ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 provides an overview and initial critique of theories put forward to explain why third parties in the United States are so weak. It shows, for example, why the Electoral College cannot explain the weakness and especially the decline of third parties, and it also demonstrates why “American political culture,” which some scholars believe is intrinsically opposed to third parties, cannot explain why third-party support was once high and then declined. In this way, the chapter whittles the discussion down to a handful of much stronger arguments.
