Nonpartisanship

In Canada, the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut are the only bodies at the provincial/territorial level that are currently nonpartisan; they operate on a consensus government system. The autonomous Nunatsiavut Assembly operates similarly on a sub-provincial level.

In India, the Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign was a non-partisan campaign initiated by Tata Tea, and Janaagraha to encourage citizens to vote in the 2009 Indian general election.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} The campaign was a non-partisan campaign initiated by Anal Saha.

{{main|Nonpartisanism in the United States}}

Historian Sean Wilentz argues that from the days of George Washington's farewell address, to Senator Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic national convention in 2004, politicians have called upon Americans to move beyond parties. Wilentz calls this the post-partisan style, and argues that "the antiparty current is by definition antidemocratic, as political parties have been the only reliable electoral vehicles for advancing the ideas and interests of ordinary voters".p. 28 However, nonpartisan elections are quite common at the local level, primarily in an effort to keep national issues from being mixed up with local issues.{{cite book|author=Sean Wilentz|title=The Politicians and the Egalitarians: The Hidden History of American Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MBuZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT45|year=2016|publisher=W. W. Norton|page=45|isbn=9780393285017|access-date=1 June 2019|archive-date=7 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207053305/https://books.google.com/books?id=MBuZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT45|url-status=live}}

Today, nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices, especially school board, and are also common in the election of judges. The unicameral Legislature of Nebraska is the only state legislature that is entirely officially nonpartisan; additionally, the bicameral Fono of American Samoa is the only territorial legislature that is officially nonpartisan.

Although elections may be officially nonpartisan, in some elections (usually involving larger cities or counties, as well as the Nebraska unicameral) the party affiliations of candidates are generally known, most commonly by the groups endorsing a particular candidate (e.g., a candidate endorsed by a labor union would be generally affiliated with the Democratic Party, while a candidate endorsed by a business coalition would be generally affiliated with the Republican Party).{{cite book|author=Steffen Schmidt|title=American Government and Politics Today - Texas Edition, 2007-2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uksP_66HMegC&pg=PA850|year=2007|publisher=Cengage Learning|page=850|isbn=978-0495392026|access-date=1 June 2019|archive-date=7 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207053243/https://books.google.com/books?id=uksP_66HMegC&pg=PA850|url-status=live}}

Churches and charities in the United States are mainly formed under US Internal Revenue Service tax code 501(c)(3) non-profit organization regulations. To maintain that tax-exempt status, and the ability for donors to take a tax deduction, they are required to remain nonpartisan.[http://www.hbtlj.org/v08p1/v08p1elacquaar.pdf Eyes wide shut: The ambiguous "political activity" prohibition and its effects on 501(c)(3) organizations, Houston Business and Tax Journal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902142613/http://www.hbtlj.org/v08p1/v08p1elacquaar.pdf |date=2 September 2017 }}, by Amelia Elacqua, 2008, pages 118, 119 and 141, referenced 16 February 2012

This has caused some to question the ability of organizations that have the appearance of partisanship.

The Brookings Institution is a Washington, D.C. think tank and 501(c)(3) non-profit, nonpartisan organization. Since its founding in 1916, it has had both identifiable Republicans and Democrats among its leadership. Owing to leadership changes such as this, some argue that it is a good example of a nonpartisan organization. The New York Times has at times listed the organization as being liberal, liberal-centrist, centrist, and conservative.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/world/americas/16iht-gitmo.1.17859399.html?_r=2 | work=The New York Times | first=William | last=Glaberson | title=Closing Guantánamo may not be easy | date=16 November 2008 | access-date=11 February 2017 | archive-date=1 July 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701015213/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/world/americas/16iht-gitmo.1.17859399.html?_r=2 | url-status=live }}[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/politics/14heritage.html Next Generation of Conservatives (By the Dormful)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415135022/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/politics/14heritage.html |date=15 April 2015 }} by Jason DeParle, New York Times, 14 June 2005[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E4D61F3FF936A25756C0A96F958260 Silicon Valley's New Think Tank Stakes Out 'Radical Center'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207053244/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/15/arts/silicon-valley-s-new-think-tank-stakes-out-radical-center.html |date=7 February 2023 }} by Neil A. Lewis, New York Times, 15 May 1999[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E5D71E3BF937A1575AC0A9669C8B63 ECONOMIC VIEW; Friedman And Keynes, Trading Pedestals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207053258/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/24/business/economic-view-friedman-and-keynes-trading-pedestals.html |date=7 February 2023 }} by Tom Redburn, New York Times, 24 September 2000[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/nyregion/13ROBINSON.html Marshall A. Robinson, 83, Former Foundation Chief, Dies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018092843/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/nyregion/13ROBINSON.html |date=18 October 2015 }} by Wolfgang Saxon, New York Times, 13 January 2006 In 2008, The New York Times published an article where it referred to the "conservative Brookings Institution".

In the Progressive Era, the Nonpartisan League was an influential socialist political movement, especially in the Upper Midwest, particularly during the 1910s and 1920s. It also contributed much to the ideology of the former Progressive Party of Canada. It went into decline and merged with the Democratic Party of North Dakota to form the North Dakota Democratic–NPL Party in 1956.

In the history of Milwaukee, the "Nonpartisans" were an unofficial but widely recognized coalition of Republicans and Democrats who cooperated in an effort to keep Milwaukee's Sewer Socialists out of as many offices as possible, including in elections which were officially non-partisan, but in which Socialists and "Nonpartisans" were clearly identified in the press."School Board Returns Even: Both Nonpartisans and Socialists Pick Five Candidates Each" Milwaukee Journal 18 March 1931; p. 1, col. 7 (Such candidates were sometimes called "fusion" candidates."Fusion In Many Districts; Old Parties Unite On Legislative Candidates" Milwaukee Journal 1 November 1918; p. 9, col. 2) This lasted from the 1910sAvella, Steven M. Milwaukee Catholicism: Essays on Church and Community Milwaukee: Milwaukee Knights of Columbus, 1991; pp. 43–44 well into the 1940s. (The similar effort in 1888 to prevent Herman Kroeger's election as a Union Labor candidate had been conducted under the banner of a temporary "Citizen's Party" label.Wells, Robert W. This Is Milwaukee New York: Doubleday, 1970; p. 169) During the period of Socialist-Progressive cooperation (1935–1941), the two sides were called "Progressives" and "Nonpartisans".Cibulka, James G. and Olson, Frederick I. "The Organization of the Milwaukee Public School System" in Seeds of Crisis: Public Schooling in Milwaukee since 1920 Rury, John L. and Cassell, Frank A., eds. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993; p. 104

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Apoliticism
• Decline to state
• Freedom of information
• Journalistic objectivity
• Independent politician
• Independent voter
• Media reform
• Neutrality
• Non-partisan democracy
• Objectivity (science)
• Partisan (politics)
• Party switching
• Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy)

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jK-0NPoMiYoC&q=Nonpartisan&pg=PA476 |title=Safire's political dictionary |author= William Safire |date=31 March 2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195343342 |access-date=25 January 2012 }}
• {{cite book |url = https://archive.org/details/storynonpartisa00russgoog |quote = Nonpartisan. |title=The story of the Nonpartisan League: a chapter in American evolution |year = 1920 |via = Internet Archive |author= Charles Edward Russell |publisher=Harper & Brothers |access-date=25 January 2012 }}
• {{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=o0XNlQCub1cC&q=Nonpartisan&pg=PA110 |title=Competitive Governments: An Economic Theory of Politics and Public Finance |author= Albert Breton |date=28 September 1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521646284 |access-date=25 January 2012 }}
• {{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=23dUzlVxphMC&q=Nonpartisan&pg=PA167 |title=European labor unions |author= Joan Campbell |date=3 June 1944 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9780313263712 |access-date=25 January 2012 }}
• {{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iIolxT5S3SMC&q=Nonpartisan&pg=PA95 |title=Political parties in Western democracies |author= Leon D. Epstein |year=1980 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=9781412831178 |access-date=25 January 2012 }}

{{Portal|Politics|Political science}}

Category:Political parties

Category:Political terminology of the United States

Category:Political science terminology

Category:Political terminology