J. Austin Ranney (September 23, 1920 – July 24, 2006) was an American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and expert on political parties in the United States. Ranney earned his bachelor's degree at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, his master's degree at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, and his Ph.D. at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. He taught for many years at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

and the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, before coming to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1986, where he stayed through the remainder of his career. According to political journalist Theodore H. White, it was Ranney who, in a Nov. 18, 1969, hearing designed to reform the delegate selection process of the Democratic Party, "set... in motion" the idea of quota set-asides, though Ranney "consistently ever since...has expressed his abhorrence of quotas." White attributes the quota system eventually adopted by the

McGovern–Fraser Commission The McGovern–Fraser Commission, formally known as Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection,Kamarck, Elaine C. (2009). Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System'. Washington, DC: Brookings I ...

as "one of the major factors in the wrecking" of the campaign of George McGovern as the 1972 Democratic presidential candidate and the landslide re-election of Richard Nixon.White, Theodore H. The Making of the President 1972. New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1973, pp 29-30, 33. He served as president of the American Political Science Association in 1974–1975, and also served as managing editor of the ''

American Political Science Review The ''American Political Science Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of political science. It is an official journal of the American Political Science Association and is published on their behalf by Cambri ...

.'' He was a

Guggenheim fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

( in 1974), and a scholar at the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

( 1976–1985). He was politically a Democrat. Ranney was a longtime affiliate of political science honors society

Pi Sigma Alpha Pi Sigma Alpha ( or PSA), the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political and social sciences in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic ...

. He was president of the society from 1976 to 1978, and also served on the executive council for the ten years prior. He was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha as a college student. He created the

Ranney Index The Ranney Index is a way to measure a state's competition between the two major political parties in the United States, created by Austin Ranney J. Austin Ranney (September 23, 1920 – July 24, 2006) was an American political scientist and exper ...

, and is also noted for his work on

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...

in British parliamentary elections (1965). His influences included Elmer Eric Schattschneider and Angus Campbell, while his Ph.D. students include Douglas W. Rae.

Works

* Austin Ranney, ''Pathways to Parliament. Candidate Selection in Britain,'' Macmillan, London, 1965.

References

External links

* American political scientists Northwestern University alumni University of Oregon alumni Yale University alumni University of Illinois faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty University of California faculty 1920 births 2006 deaths Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy 20th-century political scientists {{US-polisci-bio-stub