What's In It Anyway?: The Systemic Level of Analysis in American Domestic Politics

• In Event: American Political Thought

Abstract

Though frequently invoked, the term “system” has come to have many meanings in American political studies. The malleable nature of its definition has allowed researchers to ignore how other fields such as International Relations has defined and operationalized the term. Adapting IR’s level of analysis literature to a domestic context reduces the possible contents of the system level to that of ideology. Building on the work of Louis Hartz, this paper argues that one of the hallmarks of a dominant political ideology is its sensitivity to ideological challenges, a sensitivity which get manifested by a reactive political system. This reactiveness helps explain the ideology’s persistence. The First Red Scare of 1917-1920 and the Populists movement of the 1870s-1890s are used as case studies to illustrate the sensitivity to and the measured response of the dominant ideology, acting through the political system, to perceived challenges.

Author

• Charles Hantz, Danville Area Community College