ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three aspects of direct primaries in America, and on how distinctive features of the American political system. They are the variations of procedure possible within this system, the possible reasons for a party switching to direct primaries and the consequences of their adoption. It is the selection of candidates that is crucial for how parties operate, and this chapter focuses primarily on that. Indeed, for most of the nineteenth century the Democratic Party was simply called 'The Democracy' by many of its supporters. Over the course of the twentieth century, though, there was a pronounced tendency towards more 'open' primaries. However, even a century ago the potential primary electorate was always far larger than the core of individuals who might actively participate in a primary campaign or who were subsequently involved in a party's efforts at the general election.
