The Christian Right and congressional elections in Oklahoma: Can a social movement impact candidate-centered elections?

Abstract

The research indicates a flaw in McAdam's model, the need to develop continuing leadership if a social movement is to avoid decline. The surge and decline nature that McAdam builds into his political process model of social movements is caused by the lack of leadership development within social movement organizations to allow the organizations to continue to flourish. Within the Christian Right, this should not be problematic, because the world of Evangelical Christianity is continually developing new leadership.

Evangelical Christianity is similar to the political world, multi-polar, decentralized, and entrepreneurial. Observation of Christian Right social movement organizations demonstrates that the type of entrepreneurial leader necessary to candidate centered politics is the same type of leader that founds churches and social movement organizations. With the socialization that trains church members to respond to this leadership style, members of the Christian Right can be mobilized by like-minded individuals operating as entrepreneurial politicians. The structure of political opportunities upon which the Christian Right capitalized fueled the realignment of the Oklahoma congressional delegation from a Democratic dominated delegation to a Republican one that supports Christian Right issues. The Christian Right brought social movement resources into the political process, including energy, commitment, and volunteer talent, In addition, in 1994 two types of Christian Right were discovered, one rustic, a throwback to the unsophisticated Christian Right behavior of the 1980s, and the other sophisticated. The rustics had little impact on the process, and faded after the election. The sophisticated Christian Right understood the necessity for political alliances With like-minded people, and was also able to transcend the doctrinal differences within Evangelical Christianity to impact the political process.

Elections in the United States are candidate centered. Political parties have weakened, making the electoral process decentralized and entrepreneurial. The political candidate must be a political entrepreneur, a self-starter who can build an organization, raise funds, and mobilize supporters for the campaign. Since parties are weak, other organizations can impact elections. This research explores the interaction between candidate centered congressional campaigns and the Christian Right as a social movement, interpreted via McAdam's political process model.