Jide Nzelibe (Northwestern): In Praise of Faction: How Special Interests Benefit Constitutional Order. Lea Ypi (LSE): "It is True that Some Divisions are Harmful to Republics and Some are Helpful": On Factions, Parties and the History of a Controversial Distinction; and Political Commitment and the Value of Partisanship. John Sides interviews Marc Hetherington and Thomas Rudolph, author of Why Washington Won’t Work: Polarization, Political Trust, and the Governing Crisis. The introduction to When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History by Daniel Schlozman. Don’t bury political parties just yet. Daniel I. Weiner and Ian Vandewalker on strengthening the parties to strengthen democracy. Julia Azari on why parties are not the problem — they’re the solution. Jonathan Chait on politics in a country where nobody changes their mind.
“Political identity is fair game for hatred”: Ezra Klein and Alvin Chang on how Republicans and Democrats discriminate. A House Divided: Ryan Lizza on how a radical group of Republicans pushed Congress to the Right. Framing and party competition: Robert M. Entman on how Democrats enabled the GOP’s move to the uncompromising Right. Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Theda Skocpol on how the Right trounced liberals in the states: Conservatives have mastered the art of cross-state policy advocacy, while liberal efforts have fizzled. Democrats are in denial — their party is actually in deep trouble. The Democratic Party is in a deep, deep hole — but Democrats are trying to do something about it. Ian Millhiser on how the future of the Democratic Party will be decided by the Supreme Court.
