To address the growing concern about the decline of political parties in American politics and the consequences this might have for America"s constitutional democracy, the twelve leading constitutional scholars who contribute to this volume examine the purposes of political parties in America"s constitutional order, each major party"s strongest recent manifestation-the Democrat"s New Deal coalition and the Republican"s Reagan coalition, and the future of the American party system. Sponsored by the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs.