Southern Political Science Association Party Competition and the Prisoner's Dilemma: An Argument for the Direct Primary Party Competition and the Prisoner's Dilemma: An Argument for the Direct Primary

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. This argument is important because scholars and pundits often suggest that the parties should find ways to limit their internal struggles. Thus, there have been frequent calls for such reforms as lessening the influence of primaries and increasing the role of party leaders (see, for instance, Polsby 1983; Ceasar 1979, 1982). All these suggestions rest on the assumption that intraparty competition undermines the ability of parties to foster democratic government. We take issue with that view. This essay, as a result, offers a new twist to the long standing debate over how parties can promote democracy. Cambridge University Press an