J. Austin Ranney (September 23, 1920 – July 24, 2006) was an American political scientist and expert on

political parties in the United States American electoral politics have been dominated by two major political parties since shortly after the founding of the republic of the United States of America. Since the 1850s, the two have been the Democratic Party and the Republican Party� ...

. Ranney earned his bachelor's degree at Northwestern University, his master's degree at the University of Oregon, and his Ph.D. at Yale University. He taught for many years at the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, before coming to the University of California, Berkeley in 1986, where he stayed through the remainder of his career. According to political journalist

Theodore H. White Theodore Harold White (, May 6, 1915 – May 15, 1986) was an American political journalist and historian, known for his reporting from China during World War II and the ''Making of the President'' series. White started his career reporting for ...

, 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 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 The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...

in 1974–1975, and also served as managing editor of the '' American Political Science Review.'' He was a Guggenheim fellow ( in 1974), and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute ( 1976–1985). He was politically a Democrat. Ranney was a longtime affiliate of political science honors society Pi Sigma Alpha. 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 A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members ...

, and is also noted for his work on preselection in British parliamentary elections (1965). His influences included

Elmer Eric Schattschneider Elmer Eric Schattschneider (August 11, 1892 – March 4, 1971) was an American political scientist. Life and career Schattschneider was born in Bethany, Minnesota. He received his B.A. and M.A. at the University of Pittsburgh and his Ph.D. at ...

and Angus Campbell, while his Ph.D. students include

Douglas W. Rae Douglas Whiting Rae (born 1939) is a political scientist and Richard Ely Professor of Political Science and Management at Yale University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served as Chief Administrative Officer of th ...

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