Howard L. Reiter

Professor and Department Head

American Government

Howard L. Reiter has taught at the University of Connecticut since 1974, and became department head in August 2003.  He specializes in American politics, with a focus on political parties and elections. Professor Reiter has been a Fulbright Research Scholar in western Europe, a recipient of Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Books Award, and a lecturer on American politics in Europe, Asia and Latin America. In 2001-2002, he held the Uppsala Chair in American Studies in Uppsala, Sweden, as part of the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program. Professor Reiter received his B.A. from Cornell and his A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard.  

• Selected Publications: 
• Parties and Elections in Corporate America, 2nd ed. (Longman,1993) 
• Selecting the President: The Nominating Process in Transition. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985) 
• "Factional Persistence within Parties in the United States," Party Politics, May 2004
  
• "The Building of a Bifactional Structure: The Democrats in the 1940s," Political Science Quarterly, Spring 2001
• "The Bases of Progressivism Within the Major Parties: Evidence from the National Conventions," Social Science History, Spring 1998 
• "Why Did the Whigs Die (And Why Didn't the Democrats)? Evidence from National Nominating Conventions," Studies in American Political Development, Fall 1996
• "Party Decline in the West: A Skeptic's View," Journal of Theoretical Politics, July 1989
• "The Limitations of Reform," British Journal of Political Science, October 1985
• "Why is Turnout Down?" Public Opinion Quarterly, Fall 1979

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