Nonpartisanism

Hiram Johnson, the vehement reformer, first raised aloft the banner of nonpartisanism as an answer to California's political waywardness. It remained for Warren, a generation later, to demonstrate the extent to which the preachment of nonpartisanism could be put into practice.

The institutional effect of nonpartisanism itself is difficult to assess because of the separate influences of at-large and district elections to city councils. There is evidence that partisan and district elections are more likely to integrate political and social structures, for example, by facilitating group representation in neighborhoods.

Professors Steven T. Seitz and L. Earl Shaw, Jr. take us back to the early years, and then, using modern survey tools and analysis, tell us why nonpartisanism was to be abandoned.