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political machine
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What is a political machine?
A political machine is a party organization in U.S. politics led by a boss or small autocratic group that has enough votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state. These machines build voter loyalty, especially among immigrant groups, by offering favors like jobs or housing.
They are characterized by a disciplined, hierarchical organization that addresses individual neighborhood or family problems in exchange for votes. While their primary goal is to stay in power, they have improved services and assimilated immigrants. However, they have also been responsible for abuses of power, using government salaries and revenues to enrich the party, sometimes accepting money from organized crime. Civil service reforms, direct primaries, and a more mobile population have reduced their power since their 19th-century peak.
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How do political machines operate in politics?
In U.S. politics, a political machine is a party organization led by a boss or small autocratic group that has enough votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state. These machines build voter loyalty by providing jobs or housing, especially to immigrant groups. In exchange for loyalty at the polls, the machine responds to the problems of individual neighborhoods or even families.
Political machines can abuse their power by accepting donations or kickbacks from businesses for favors like tax concessions or lucrative contracts. They may also take money from organized crime in exchange for protection from legal interference. Civil service reforms, direct primaries, municipal operation of public utilities, and judicial review have reduced the power of political machines since their 19th-century height.
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Who leads a political machine?
A political machine in U.S. politics is a party organization led by a single boss or small autocratic group. This entity has enough command over votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state.
These machines thrived with disciplined, hierarchical organizations reaching into neighborhoods. In exchange for loyalty at the polls, they addressed individual problems, and were able to elect candidates or enact measures efficiently.
While their primary goal is self-preservation, political machines have improved facilities and assimilated immigrant groups. However, they have also been responsible for abuses of power. Civil service reforms, direct primaries, and judicial review have reduced their power since their 19th-century peak.
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How do political machines gain and keep power?
Political machines gain and maintain power by building a loyal voter following, especially among immigrant groups, by exchanging favors such as jobs or housing for votes. These machines are characterized by a disciplined and hierarchical organization that allows them to respond to the problems of individual neighborhoods or families in exchange for loyalty at the polls. They consolidate power by controlling both elective and appointed posts, which gives them control of government salaries and revenues. They maintain power through clientelistic distribution of collective goods. Although the primary goal of a political machine is keeping itself in power rather than providing good government, they have been responsible for improving facilities and services.
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What are some famous examples of political machines in history?
Political machines are party organizations, often led by a boss or small group, that maintain political and administrative control over a city, county, or state. These machines thrived in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in rapidly growing American cities, by providing services and favors to voters in exchange for loyalty.
Famous examples include:
- Tammany Hall: Run by Boss Tweed in New York City, known for corruption and plundering the city of over $200 million.
- Richard J. Daley's Machine: In Chicago, Daley consolidated power and provided jobs and services, but also faced accusations of abuse of power.
- Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party, Japanese Liberal-Democratic Party, and the Italian Christian Democrats: These parties took over the bureaucracy and distribution of goods to maintain power.
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Why did political machines become less common, and what problems did they cause?
Political machines became less common due to civil service reforms, direct primaries, municipal operation of public utilities, judicial review, suburbanization, and increased population mobility.
Political machines caused problems such as:
* awarding organizers with patronage jobs, which resulted in poorer service to citizens because appointees may be unqualified or uninterested
* enriching the party at the public’s expense by controlling government salaries and revenues
* accepting money from organized-crime syndicates in exchange for protection from legal interference
* aggravating hostilities in cities divided along ethnic or racial lines by awarding most jobs and services to those people of the same background as the city’s power elite1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
political machine, in U.S. politics, a party organization, headed by a single boss or small autocratic group, that commands enough votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state.
The rapid growth of American cities in the 19th century, a result of both immigration and migration from rural areas, created huge problems for city governments, which were often poorly structured and unable to provide services. In those conditions, political machines—such as Tammany Hall, run by boss William Magear Tweed (1823–73) in New York City—were able to build a loyal voter following, especially among immigrant groups, by performing such favours as providing jobs or housing.
Political machines are characterized by a disciplined and hierarchical organization, reaching down to neighbourhood and block organizers, that enables the machine to respond to the problems of individual neighbourhoods, or even families, in exchange for loyalty at the polls. The term refers to their ability to elect candidates or enact measures with mechanical efficiency and predictability.
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Although the primary goal of a political machine is keeping itself in power rather than providing good government, machines have been responsible for restructuring city governments to centralize authority, improving facilities and services, helping to assimilate immigrant groups, and encouraging the growth of business and industry. Supporters of political machines say that they “work” and that consolidating power in the hands of a boss, like Mayor Richard J. Daley (1902–76) of Chicago, guarantees city governments the power and authority that they need to cope with urban problems effectively. However, because political machines in such cities as Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Kansas City have also been responsible for many abuses of power, the term carries a pejorative sense.
Organizers who “deliver” the votes are often rewarded with patronage jobs. However, patronage can result in poorer service to the citizens because appointees may be neither qualified for their jobs nor interested in performing them. Control of both elective and appointed posts also gives a machine control of government salaries and revenues, which can be used to enrich the party at the public’s expense. For example, the machine may accept donations or kickbacks from businesses in return for such favours as tax or zoning concessions or the award of lucrative public-works contracts. In some cities, machine business dealings have included accepting money from organized-crime syndicates in exchange for protection from legal interference.
In cities whose neighbourhoods are divided along ethnic or racial lines, machine patronage may aggravate hostilities by awarding most jobs and services to those people of the same background as the city’s power elite. In practice, this made machine politics the last defense of white neighbourhoods against growing black populations, while black politicians who anticipated power viewed their constituents as merely the latest in a series of ethnic or racial groups that had benefited from the machine.
Since the 19th-century heyday of machine politics, civil service reforms limiting the number of patronage jobs, the institution of direct primaries rather than party nomination of candidates, the municipal operation of public utilities, and judicial review by state and federal courts have all reduced the power of political machines. The steady exodus of city residents to the suburbs since World War II and a more mobile population with fewer ties to particular neighbourhoods have also weakened the social base that once made political machines synonymous with city government.
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