party machine
Electoral power structure
A party machine is a political organization that maintains power through patronage, loyalty, and tight discipline rather than ideology or policy.
The machine delivers votes reliably by rewarding supporters with jobs, contracts, and favors: Tammany Hall was New York's infamous party machine for generations.
The term often carries connotations of corruption and boss rule, though machines historically also served immigrant communities and the urban poor.
- politicalOf government matters
- bossWorkplace superior
- TammanyDefunct patronage organization
- wardProtected person; division
- ward heelerLow-level political operative
patronage · votes · get out the vote · ballot box · corruption · precinct · precinct captain · elections · apparatus · organization · syndicate · cronies · kickbacks · backroom · deals · old boy network · influence · city hall
- party politicsbipartisan, nonpartisan, Democrat, Republican, coalition government
party machinegrassroots movement
Citizen-led collective action campaign
grassroots organization · community organizing · social movement · direct democracy · netroots
party machineparticipatory democracy
Governance through active citizen involvement
party, machine, parties, partied, partying, part, parted, parting, partly