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Nonpartisanship, also known asnonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, apolitical party.[1]
While anOxford English Dictionary definition ofpartisan includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc.,[2] in most cases, nonpartisan refers specifically to political party connections rather than being the strictantonym of "partisan".[3][4][5]
In Canada, theLegislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and theLegislative Assembly of Nunavut are the only bodies at theprovincial/territorial level that are currently nonpartisan; they operate on aconsensus government system. TheautonomousNunatsiavut Assembly operates similarly on a sub-provincial level.
InIndia, theJaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign was a non-partisan campaign initiated byTata Tea, andJanaagraha to encourage citizens to vote in the2009 Indian general election.[citation needed] The campaign was a non-partisan campaign initiated byAnal Saha.
HistorianSean 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".[6] 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.[7]
Today, nonpartisan elections are generally held formunicipal andcounty offices, especiallyschool board, and are also common in the election of judges. TheunicameralLegislature ofNebraska is the onlystate legislature that is entirely officially nonpartisan; additionally, thebicameralFono ofAmerican Samoa is the onlyterritorial 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).[8]
Churches and charities in the United States are mainly formed under USInternal Revenue Service tax code501(c)(3) non-profit organization regulations. To maintain thattax-exempt status, and the ability for donors to take a tax deduction, they are required to remain nonpartisan.[9]
This has caused some to question the ability of organizations that have the appearance of partisanship.
TheBrookings Institution is a Washington, D.C.think tank and501(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 beingliberal, liberal-centrist,centrist, andconservative.[10][11][12][13][14] In 2008,The New York Times published an article where it referred to the "conservative Brookings Institution".[10]
In theProgressive Era, theNonpartisan League was an influentialsocialist political movement, especially in the UpperMidwest, particularly during the 1910s and 1920s. It also contributed much to the ideology of the formerProgressive Party of Canada. It went into decline and merged with the Democratic Party of North Dakota to form theNorth Dakota Democratic–NPL Party in 1956.
In thehistory of Milwaukee, the "Nonpartisans" were an unofficial but widely recognized coalition ofRepublicans andDemocrats who cooperated in an effort to keep Milwaukee'sSewer 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.[15] (Such candidates were sometimes called "fusion" candidates.[16]) This lasted from the 1910s[17] well into the 1940s. (The similar effort in 1888 to preventHerman Kroeger's election as aUnion Labor candidate had been conducted under the banner of a temporary "Citizen's Party" label.[18]) During the period of Socialist-Progressive cooperation (1935–1941), the two sides were called "Progressives" and "Nonpartisans".[19]
Nonpartisan.
