A political realignment , often called a critical election , critical realignment , or realigning election , in the academic fields of political science and political history , is a set of sharp changes in party ideology, issues, party leaders, regional and demographic bases of power of political parties, and the structure or rules of the political system , such as voter eligibility or financing. The changes result in a new political power structure that lasts for decades, replacing an older dominant coalition. Scholars frequently invoke the concept in American elections and occasionally those of other countries. American examples include the 1896 United States presidential election , when the issues of the American Civil War political system were replaced with those of the Populist and Progressive Era , and the 1932 United States presidential election , when the Populist and Progressive Eras were replaced by the New Deal -era issues of New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism. Realigning elections typically separate (what are known in the field of comparative politics as) party systems —with 1828, for example, separating the First Party System and the Second Party System in the US. It is generally accepted that the United States has had five distinct party systems, each featuring two major parties attracting a consistent political coalition and following a consistent party ideology, separated by four realignments.
41-505: [REDACTED] Look up realignment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Realignment may refer to: Political realignment , or realigning election, especially in US history and political science Realignment plan , also known as Israeli convergence plan Realignment (sports) Wheel alignment " Re-Align ", song by Godsmack from
82-571: A 0.96 correlation with the expected sets of outcomes (i.e. events ) in the binomial distribution of a fair coin flip experiment . In May 2015, statistician and FiveThirtyEight editor-in-chief Nate Silver argued against a blue wall Electoral College advantage for the Democratic Party in the 2016 U.S. presidential election , and in post-election analysis, Silver cited Trende in noting that "there are few if any permanent majorities" and both Silver and Trende argued that
123-552: A break-in at the coffee house. This phenomenon can even take political meanings, such as the cross-shaped reflection seen on the East Berlin TV Tower , nicknamed "the Pope's revenge" and cited by Ronald Reagan as an example of the survival of religious ideas in the secular Communist society. In at least two instances, the images of deceased Anglican clergymen allegedly appeared on the walls of their church. In 1902,
164-651: A chemical reaction like that often seen on old bottles, perhaps due to the action of the water sprinkler. On March 1, 2004, the three uppermost panes of the window were broken by a vandal. Other Marian apparitions of this type that have received substantial press coverage include a fence in Coogee, Australia in 2003; a hospital in Milton, Massachusetts in June 2003; and a felled tree in Passaic , New Jersey in 2003. Images of
205-497: A frequently-reported religious perception is the image of the word "Allah" in Arabic on natural objects. Again, the discovery of such an object may attract considerable interest among believers who visit the object for the purpose of prayer or veneration. Examples of this phenomenon have been reported on fish, fruit and vegetables, plants and clouds, eggs, honeycombs, and on the markings on animals' coats. The Arabic script for
246-677: A number have been bought by the Golden Palace casino. When such images receive publicity, people frequently come considerable distances to see them, and to venerate them. On April 30, 2002 the Hubble Space Science Institute released new photographs of the Cone Nebula , also known as the Space Mountain, to showcase a new extremely high resolution camera. Shortly afterwards some began to call it
287-483: A participatory event parsing experience into meaningful units. The crossroads or intersections of evolutionary psychology of religion , pattern recognition , neuroaesthetics and symbolic communication lend to the construction of meanings as group cohesion and bond-forming in human society . The Virgin Mary accounts for many sightings of this type. A typical example is the "Clearwater Virgin", an image of Mary which
328-524: A religious reality that human existence is immersed in a world containing such beings. The principal reason he believed in religion was because he believed himself to be wired to believe it, just as he believed human beings are wired to perceive inference (if ... then) and other mental logical phenomena as representing truths about the external world that can be learned from, rather than representing purely internal phenomena to be characterized as error. He chose to believe in his wiring for religious perception in
369-483: Is a Rip Van Winkle view of democracy that voters come awake only once in a generation ... It is too slippery, too binary, too apocalyptic, and it has come to be too much of a dead end." Sean Trende , senior elections analyst at RealClearPolitics , who argues against realignment theory and the "emerging Democratic majority" thesis proposed by journalist John Judis and political scientist Ruy Teixeira in his 2012 book The Lost Majority states, "Almost none of
410-400: Is called a secular realignment . Political scientists and historians often disagree about which elections are realignments and what defines a realignment, and even whether realignments occur. The terms themselves are somewhat arbitrary, however, and usage among political scientists and historians does vary. In the US, Walter Dean Burnham argued for a 30–38 year "cycle" of realignments. Many of
451-403: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Political realignment Political realignments can be sudden (1–4 years) or can take place more gradually (5–20 years). Most often, however, particularly in V. O. Key Jr. 's (1955) original hypothesis, it is a single "critical election" that marks a realignment. By contrast, a gradual process
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#1732773299847492-468: Is generally characterized as a form of pareidolia . This is a false perception of imagery due to what is theorized as the human mind's over-sensitivity to perceiving patterns, particularly the pattern of a human face , in otherwise random phenomena. It is suggested that a tendency of religious imagery in Islam to be perceived as Arabic words is made more likely by the general simplicity of letter forms in
533-460: Is known for its publicity stunts . Another image often reported is that of Jesus Christ . Sightings of this type have been reported in such varied media as cloud photos, Marmite , chapatis , shadows, Cheetos , tortillas , trees, dental x-rays, cooking utensils, windows rocks and stones, painted and plastered walls, and dogs' hindquarters. Again, some of these items have been offered for sale on Internet auction sites, and
574-566: Is no widespread agreement: The history of the critical realigning elections in Canada, both nationally and in the provinces, is covered by Argyle (2011). According to recent scholarship, there have been four party systems in Canada at the federal level since Confederation, each with its own distinctive pattern of social support, patronage relationships, leadership styles, and electoral strategies. Steve Patten identifies four party systems in Canada's political history Clarkson (2005) shows how
615-654: The Arabic alphabet (especially in the everyday Riq'a ); a tradition of massive typographical flexibility in Islamic calligraphy ; and the particular shape of the word Allah (الله). These factors make the word easy to read into many structures with parallel lines or lobes on a common base. The author C. S. Lewis wrote about the implications of perception of religious imagery in questionable circumstances on issues of religious belief and faith. He argued that people's ready ability to perceive human-like forms around them reflects
656-562: The Great Depression until Ronald Reagan's election as president in 1980 and the House election of 1994 when Republicans regained the majority for the first time in 40 years. A central component of realignment is the change in behavior of voting groups. Realignment means the switching of voter preference from one party to another, in contrast to dealignment (where a voter group abandons a party to become independent or nonvoting). In
697-575: The Hanuman , the monkey deity in the Hindu pantheon , created a social phenomenon. There are two nearby trees which also resemble deities. One features an apparent outline of Guan Yin , the goddess of mercy, and another resembles the Hindu elephant god Ganesha . In some cases, apparent religious images have been deliberately created from natural materials as part of an artistic endeavor or investigation into
738-544: The Muslim world, structures in food and other natural objects may be perceived as religious text in Arabic script, particularly the word Allah or verses from the Qur'an . Many religious believers view them as real manifestations of miraculous origin; a skeptical view is that such perceptions are examples of pareidolia . The original phenomena of this type were acheropites : images of major Christian icons such as Jesus and
779-706: The Virgin Mary that were believed to have been created by supernatural means. The word acheropite comes from the Greek ἀχειροποίητος , meaning "not created by human hands", and the term was first applied to the Turin Shroud and the Veil of Veronica . Later, the term came to apply more generally to simulacra of a religious or spiritual nature occurring in natural phenomena, particularly those seen by believers as being of miraculous origin. Scientifically, such imagery
820-552: The "Jesus Nebula", believing they could see Jesus's face in it. The new camera was installed on Hubble by astronauts during a Space Shuttle mission in March 2002. The Cone Nebula, located in the constellation Monoceros , is a region that contains cones, pillars, and majestic flowing shapes that abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by energetic winds from nurseries of newborn stars. One controversial incident that received considerable publicity
861-545: The "emerging Democratic majority" thesis led most news coverage and commentary preceding the election to overstate Hillary Clinton 's chances of being elected. The central holding of realignment theory, first developed in the political scientist V. O. Key Jr. 's 1955 article, "A Theory of Critical Elections", is that American elections, parties and policymaking routinely shift in swift, dramatic sweeps. Key, E. E. Schattschneider , James L. Sundquist , Walter Dean Burnham are generally credited with developing and refining
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#1732773299847902-552: The 1990s, provincial elections in Quebec show increasing voter realignment and volatility in party support. The Quebec Liberal Party (unaffiliated with the federal Liberals since 1955) been a major party since Confederation, but they have faced different opposition parties. Queensland Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena People have been found to perceive images with spiritual or religious themes or import, sometimes called iconoplasms or simulacra , in
943-475: The Liberal Party has dominated all the party systems, using different approaches. It began with a "clientelistic approach" under Laurier , which evolved into a "brokerage" system of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s under Mackenzie King . The 1950s saw the emergence of a "pan-Canadian system", which lasted until the 1990s. The 1993 election — categorized by Clarkson as an electoral "earthquake" which "fragmented"
984-540: The US and Australia, as the ideologies of the parties define many of the aspects of voters' lives and the decisions that they make, a realignment by a voter tends to have a longer-lasting effect. In Britain and Canada, on the other hand, voters have a tendency to switch parties on a whim, perhaps only for one election, as there is far less loyalty towards a particular party. Some debate exists today as to what elections could be considered realigning elections after 1932. Although several candidates have been proposed, there
1025-845: The Virgin have also been reported on a rock in Ghana , an underpass in Chicago, a lump of firewood in Janesville, Wisconsin ; a chocolate factory in Fountain Valley, California ; and a pizza pan in Houston, Texas . A grilled cheese sandwich, a pretzel and a pebble said to resemble images of the Virgin Mary have been offered for sale on Internet auction sites, the former being purchased by Internet casino GoldenPalace.com , which
1066-603: The album Faceless See also [ edit ] Public Safety Realignment initiative Alignment (disambiguation) Unaligned (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Realignment . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Realignment&oldid=1171889189 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
1107-549: The elections often included in the Burnham 38-year cycle are considered "realigning" for different reasons. Other political scientists and quantitative elections analysts reject realignment theory altogether, arguing that there are no long-term patterns. Political scientist David R. Mayhew states, "Electoral politics is to an important degree just one thing after another ... Elections and their underlying causes are not usefully sortable into generation-long spans ... It
1148-758: The end of a particular dynasty and a realignment of the province's party system. The 2019 election has also been suggested as a realignment: although the New Democratic Party was defeated after only one term, they retained a strong base of seats and remained competitive in opinion polling and fundraising, pointing to a possible development of a competitive two-party system against the United Conservative Party . A considerable number of Quebec general elections have been known characterized by high seat turnovers, with certain ones being considered realigning elections, notably: Since
1189-461: The image of a Dean Vaughan allegedly appeared on the walls of Llandaff Cathedral , while the image of Dean Henry Liddell allegedly appeared on the walls of Christ Church, Oxford in 1923. Another example, either a miraculous sign or a face recognition pareidolia , originated in the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral , when a few observers claimed to see Jesus in the flames. In the Muslim community,
1230-456: The name of Allah is purported to be visible in a satellite photograph of the 2004 Asian tsunami . This was taken as evidence by some Muslims that Allah had sent the tsunami as punishment. Several Hindu murtis are held to be "self-manifest" or Swayambhu . Most are lingams of Shiva . In Jurong West , Singapore in September 2007, the discovery of calluses on a tree which look like
1271-428: The necessary political, social, and economic changes occur. The alignment of 1860, with Republicans winning a series of close presidential elections, yielded abruptly in 1896 to an era of more decisive GOP control, in which most presidential elections were blowouts, and Democratic Congresses were infrequent and brief. Thirty-six years later, that system was displaced by a cycle of Democratic dominance, lasting throughout
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1312-655: The party system, saw the emergence of regional politics within a four party-system, whereby various groups championed regional issues and concerns. Clarkson concludes that the inherent bias built into the first-past-the-post system, has chiefly benefited the Liberals. Alberta has had a tradition of one-party dominance , where a party forms government for an extended period before losing power. From 1905 to 2015, Alberta only changed governments (often called "dynasties") four times, with no party ever returning to government. The elections of 1921 , 1935 , 1971 and 2015 each marked
1353-526: The patterns are longer, closer to 50 to 60 years in duration, noting the Democratic dominance from 1800 to 1860, and Republican rule from 1860 to 1932. Reichley argues that the only true realigning elections occurred in 1800, 1860, and 1932. Given the much longer length of time since the last generally accepted realignment in 1932, more recent scholars have theorized that realignments don't in fact operate on any consistent time scale, but rather occur whenever
1394-631: The perceiver is indelibly mediated or filtered through culture, politics, and worldview. As Gregory Price Grieve states: What you see is not always what you get. Instead, what we see depends on mediation. That is, because our descriptions of religious images are culturally located, our "naïve" descriptions are neither innocent nor objective. Rather, all social objects are mediated by intervening socially grounded, culturally generated, and historically particular mechanisms. Moreover, these intervening mechanisms are not only by necessity material, but are marbled through and through with power relations. Psychology of
1435-465: The sacred, taking stock of the human condition , conveys that people construct meaning from that which is without meaning; stated differently, culture gives context to lived experience. Therefore, both meaning and absence of meaning may be perceived as being co-existents. Cultural context as constructed meaning and memetic transmission engenders social, existential, and spiritual comfort in a tenuous and arbitrary lived experience and millieu : perception as
1476-475: The same way and for the same reasons that he chose to believe in his wiring for logic , choosing to use and rely on both as guides to learning about the world rather than regarding them as purely random in origin and discarding them. People continue to have faith in the phenomenon of logic, despite the fact that they sometimes make demonstrably mistaken inferences. From an etic perspective, perception of an image, icon, or sign of religious or spiritual import to
1517-707: The shapes of natural phenomena. The images perceived, whether iconic or aniconic , may be the faces of religious notables or the manifestation of spiritual symbols in the natural, organic media or phenomena of the natural world . The occurrence or event of perception may be transient or fleeting or may be more enduring and monumental . The phenomenon appears to approach a cultural universal and may often accompany nature worship , animism , and fetishism , along with more formal or organized belief systems. Within Christian traditions, many instances reported involve images of Jesus or other Christian figures seen in food; in
1558-406: The theories propounded by realignment theorists has endured the test of time... It turns out that finding a 'realigning' election is a lot like finding an image of Jesus in a grilled-cheese sandwich – if you stare long enough and hard enough, you will eventually find what you are looking for ." In August 2013, Trende observed that U.S. presidential election results from 1880 through 2012 form
1599-484: The theory of realignment. Though they differed on some of the details, earlier realignments scholars generally concluded that systematic patterns are identifiable in American national elections such that cycles occur on a regular schedule: once every 36-years or so. This period of roughly 30 years fits with the notion that these cycles are closely linked to generational change. Some, such as Shafer and Reichley, argue that
1640-462: Was reported to have appeared in the glass façade of a finance building in Clearwater, Florida , and attracted widespread media attention. The building drew an estimated one million visitors over the next several years and was purchased by an Ohio Catholic revivalism group. A local chemist examined the windows and suggested the stain was produced by water deposits combined with weathering, yielding
1681-460: Was when the face of Mother Teresa was claimed to have been identified in a cinnamon bun at Bongo Java in Nashville, Tennessee on 15 October 1996. Dubbed the "Nun Bun" by the press, it was turned into an enterprise by the company, selling T-shirts and mugs, which led to an exchange of letters between the company and Mother Teresa's representatives. On 25 December 2005 the bun was stolen during