Varieties of American Conservatism
Discover the intellectual roots of modern conservatism.
If there is one thing about politics that unites Americans these days, it is their contempt for political parties and partisanship. More Americans today identify as independents than with either of the two major political parties. Party leaders in Congress are held in disrepute, criticized by one side for being too soft and condemned by the other for being too extreme. The partisan coalitions that defined the Democratic and Republican parties for decades seem to be breaking apart, as insurgent, “outsider” politicians — like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders — continue to rise.
Yet while both major parties are less popular than at any time in recent history, partisan antipathy has only intensified. Party affiliation is now a bigger wedge between Americans than race, gender, religion, or level of education. Rather than being one two-party nation, the polarized U.S. is in danger of becoming “two one-party nations.”
What is the origin of this bitter and seemingly irreconcilable divide? Is there an ideal level of party difference? How much is too much? In this one-week seminar, students will examine the roots of party polarization and its implications for our national politics. The 2016 election and the 2018 midterms will provide the backdrop for our discussion of the significance of parties.
Dan DiSalvo on party reform in America
Faculty
Daniel DiSalvo
Daniel DiSalvo is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute’s Center for State and Local Leadership and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York-CUNY. His scholarship focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy.
Daniel DiSalvo
Daniel DiSalvo is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute’s Center for State and Local Leadership and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York-CUNY.
His scholarship focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy. He is the author of Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868-2010 (Oxford University Press, 2012).
DiSalvo writes frequently for scholarly and popular publications, including National Affairs, City Journal, American Interest, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, and New York Post. He is coeditor of The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics.
DiSalvo holds a Ph.D. in politics from the University of Virginia.
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American Parties
Readings:
- Edmund Burke, “Thoughts on the Present Discontents,” (selection: “Party is a body of men united…” to end of paragraph)
- Russell Muirhead, “A Defense of Party Spirit,” Perspectives on Politics 4(4) (December 2006)
- A. James Reichley, Ch. 2: “From the Founding to the Civil War,” The Life of the Parties (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000)
- Frances McCall Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro, Chs. 1–2, Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019)
- Morris Fiorina, “Gridlock is Bad. The Alternative is Worse,” Washington Post, February 25, 2014
Discussion Questions:
- What are parties?
- Is partisanship a good thing? Is being a partisan defensible?
- What were the American Founders’ objections to political parties?
- What is the ideal or best party system?
- By what criteria should we judge party systems?
Party Reform
Readings:
- James W. Ceaser, “Political Parties and Presidential Ambition,” Journal of Politics 40 (1978): 708–39
- Edward C. Banfield, “In Defense of the American Party System,” Here the People Rule, 2nd edition (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1991)
- Jonathan Rauch and Raymond La Raja, “Primary Voters Have Way Too Much Power,” The Atlantic Monthly, November 2019
- Jonathan Rauch, “How American Politics Went Insane,” The Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2016
Audio:
- “James Ceaser: How We Select Our Presidential Candidates,” Conversations with Bill Kristol, March 21, 2020
- “The Case for Tammany Hall Being on the Right Side of History: Interview with Terry Golway,” NPR, March 5, 2015
Discussion Questions:
- What are the different models of parties that have been proposed in American politics since the Founding?
- Can political parties be made to serve the Founders’ objectives—at least in terms of presidential selection?
- What have been the consequences of the “democratizing” or “decentralizing” reforms of the 1970s?
Party Polarization & Government
Readings:
- Michael Barber and Nolan McCarty, “Causes and Consequences of Polarization,” Solutions to Polarization in America, Nathaniel Persily (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
- James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee, “Non-Party Government: Bipartisan Lawmaking and Party Power in Congress,” Perspectives on Politics 17 (2019)
- Frances E. Lee, “How Party Polarization Affects Governance,” Annual Review of Political Science 18 (June 2015)
- Pietro Nivola, “Partisanship in Perspective,” National Affairs (2010)
Discussion Questions:
- What are the causes of party polarization?
- Has polarization resulted in policies favoring one party or the other?
- What is the character of party discipline in Congress?
- Is party polarization all bad? Can a polarized party system be healthy?
Party Polarization & the Public
Readings:
- “Political Polarization in the American Public,” Pew Research Center (2014)
- Alan I. Abramowitz and Steven W. Webster, “Negative Partisanship: Why Americans Dislike Parties but Behave like Rabid Partisans,” Advances in Political Psychology 39 (2018), 119–215
- Morris P. Fiorina, “The Political Parties Have Sorted,” Hoover Institution, September 2016
- Thomas Edsall, “Is Politics a War of Ideas or of Us Against Them?” The New York Times, November 6, 2019
- Matthew Yglesias, “The Great Awokening,” Vox, April 2019
Discussion Questions:
- What is party identification and why is it important?
- Is the American public polarized or do most voters remain political moderates?
- How, if at all, are party and personal identity related?
Fixing Our Parties
Readings:
- Raymond J. La Raja, “Campaign Finance and Partisan Polarization in the United States Congress,” Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy (2014)
- Elaine Kamarck, “The Urgent Need for Peer Review in the Presidential Nominating Process,” Brookings Institution, October 29, 2019
- Nolan McCarty, “Reducing Polarization: Some Facts for Reformers,” University of Chicago Legal Forum, 2015
- Frances E. Lee, “Populism and the American Party System: Opportunities and Constraints,” Perspectives on Politics 18(2) (June 2020)
Discussion Questions:
- How might changing campaign finance law reduce polarization?
- What steps might improve the presidential nomination process?
- What are the prospects for populism in the American party system?
