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'''Walter Dean Burnham''' (b. 1930) is a leading political scientist and historian of American elections and voting patterns.  He is best known for quantitative analysis of national tends and patterns in the popular vote, in developing the "[[Party Systems]]" model, and for assembling county election returns for the whole country.

'''Walter Dean Burnham''' (born 1930) is a leading political scientist and historian of American elections and voting patterns.  He is best known for quantitative analysis of national tends and patterns in the popular vote, in developing the "[[Party Systems]]" model, and for assembling county election returns for the whole country.

Burnham's 1970 book ''Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics'' presented a theory of American political development focused on the role of party systems that last several decades and are then disrupted by a [[critical election]].  Such elections not only hand presidential and congressional power to the non-incumbent political party, but they do so in a dramatic way that repudiates the worn-out ideas of the old party and initiates a new era whose leaders govern on a new set of assumptions, ideologies, and public policies.  The elections of 1860 and 1932 are perhaps the clearest examples of critical elections, and scholars have disagreed about how well Burnham's theories still explain American electoral politics.

Burnham's 1970 book ''Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics'' presented a theory of American political development focused on the role of party systems that last several decades and are then disrupted by a [[critical election]].  Such elections not only hand presidential and congressional power to the non-incumbent political party, but they do so in a dramatic way that repudiates the worn-out ideas of the old party and initiates a new era whose leaders govern on a new set of assumptions, ideologies, and public policies.  The elections of 1860 and 1932 are perhaps the clearest examples of critical elections, and scholars have disagreed about how well Burnham's theories still explain American electoral politics.

The frequency of its citation in the footnotes of other works indicates that Burnham's article "The Changing Shape of the American Political Universe" (1965) was  highly influential. The majority of citations focus on the themes of voter turnout decline, realignment in 1896, and explanations for voter decline. The theory of elite, capitalist control of the political system in the 20th century has gained less attention and support, but deserves extended qualitative evaluation.<ref> Beck (1986)</ref>

The frequency of its citation in the footnotes of other works indicates that Burnham's article "The Changing Shape of the American Political Universe" (1965) was  highly influential. The majority of citations focus on the themes of voter turnout decline, realignment in 1896, and explanations for voter decline. The theory of elite, capitalist control of the political system in the 20th century has gained less attention and support, but deserves extended qualitative evaluation.<ref>Beck (1986)</ref>

==Publications==

==Publications==