I just read about a theory of political parties that posits the opposite relationship between parties and voters than the dynamic I had always assumed:
Having scanned it (I haven’t read it thoroughly yet, I’m at work), it seems really obvious in hindsight. But I have to confess that I’ve always taken the view that our elected representatives, you know, are supposed to represent the people who elected them rather than using elections as turns at bats to push their policies. ← I can’t even word that sentence in a way in which I don’t sound naive.
External events like say the Zimmerman telegraph or the Reich’s decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare played the biggest part for World War I.