1932

Abstract

We present a “developmental” approach to understanding why rising polarization in the United States has not been self-correcting but instead continues to intensify. Under specified conditions, initial increases in polarization may change the meso-environment, including such features as state parties, the structure of media, and the configuration of interest groups. These shifts can in turn influence other aspects of politics, leading to a further intensification of polarization. This analysis has four important benefits: () It directs our attention to the meso-institutional environment of the American polity; () it clarifies the features of the polity that have traditionally limited the extent and duration of polarization, and the reasons why their contemporary impact may be attenuated; () it helps us analyze asymmetrical, or party-specific, aspects of polarization; and () it provides an analytic foundation that connects discussions of American politics to the comparative politics literature on democratic backsliding.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-033629
2020-05-11
2024-10-14
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/polisci/23/1/annurev-polisci-050718-033629.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-033629&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Abramowitz AI. 2010. The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Acemoglu D, Robinson J. 2006. Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Aldrich JA, Berger MM, Rohde D 2002. The historical variability in conditional party government, 1877–1994. Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress D Brady, M McCubbins , Vol. 117–35 Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Anderson W. 1955. The Nation and the States: Rivals or Partners? Minneapolis: Univ. Minn. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Azari J, Hetherington MJ. 2016. Back to the future? What the politics of the late nineteenth century can tell us about the 2016 election. Ann. Am. Acad. Political Soc. Sci. 667:192–109
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bawn K, Cohen M, Karol D, Masket S, Noel H, Zaller J 2012. A theory of parties. Perspect. Politics 10:571–97
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Benkler Y, Faris R, Roberts H 2018. Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation and Radicalization in American Politics Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Bensel RF. 2001. Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877–1900 New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Berry JM, Sobieraj S. 2013. The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Brady DW, Han HC. 2006. Polarization then and now: a historical perspective. In Red and Blue Nation?Characteristics and Causes of America's Polarized Politics, ed. PS Nivola, DW Brady. , Vol. 1119–73 Washington, DC: Brookings Inst.
  11. Brady DW, Han HC. 2007. A delayed return to historical norms: congressional party polarization after the Second World War. Br. J. Political Sci. 37:3505–31
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Broockman D, Ferenstein GF, Malhotra N 2017. The political behavior of wealthy Americans: evidence from tech entrepreneurs Stanford Graduate School of Business Work. Pap. 3581 Stanford University Stanford, CA:
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Brooks C. 2016. Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Caughey D, Dunham J, Warshaw C 2018. The ideological nationalization of partisan subconstituencies in the American states. Public Choice 176:1–2133–51
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Dahl RA. 1961. Who Governs? New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Dahl RA, Lindblom CE. 1953. Politics, Economics, and Welfare New York: Harper
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Darr JP, Hitt MP, Dunaway JL 2018. Newspaper closures polarize voting behavior. J. Commun. 68:61007–28
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Disalvo D. 2012. Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868–2010 New York/Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Elazar D. 1966. American Federalism: A View from the States New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Epstein L. 1982. Party confederations and political nationalization. Publius 12:67–102
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Fiorina MP, Abrams SJ. 2009. Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in American Politics Norman, OK: Univ. Okla. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Freeman J. 2018. The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Greif A, Laitin DD. 2004. A theory of endogenous institutional change. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 98:4633–52
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Grossmann M, Hopkins DA. 2016. Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Grossmann M, Hopkins DA. 2018. Placing media in conservative culture Paper presented at New Agendas Conference, Univ Texas, Austin, TX:
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Grumbach JM. 2018. From backwaters to major policymakers: policy polarization in the states, 1970–2014. Perspect. Politics 16:2416–35
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Gunnell JG. 2004. Imagining the American Polity: Political Science and the Discourse of Democracy University Park, PA: Penn State Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Hacker JS, Pierson P. 2005. Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Hacker JS, Pierson P. 2014. After the “master theory”: Downs, Schattschneider, and the rebirth of policy-focused analysis. Perspect. Politics 12:3643–62
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Hacker JS, Pierson P. 2016. American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper New York: Simon and Schuster
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Hall AB. 2019. Who Wants to Run? How the Devaluing of Political Office Drives Polarization Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Hansen JM. 1991. Gaining Access: Congress and the Farm Lobby, 1919–1981 Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Hare C, Poole KT, Rosenthal H 2014. Polarization in Congress has risen sharply: Where is it going next. ? Wash. Post Monkey Cage Blog Feb. 13. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/02/13/polarization-in-congress-has-risen-sharply-where-is-it-going-next/
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Hershey M. 2017. Party Politics in America New York: Routledge. , 17th ed..
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Hertel-Fernandez A. 2019. State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States—and the Nation New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Hertel-Fernandez A, Skocpol T, Sclar J 2018. Donor consortia and American politics. Stud. Am. Political Dev. 32:127–65
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Hetherington MJ. 2009. Putting polarization in perspective. Br. J. Political Sci. 39:413–48
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Hopkins DA. 2017. Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Hopkins DJ. 2018. The Increasingly United States: How and Why American Political Behavior Nationalized Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Hopkins DJ, Schickler E. 2016. The nationalization of state party platforms, 1918–2014 Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association Philadelphia, PA:
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Iyengar S, Sood G, Lelkes Y 2012. Affect, not ideology: a social identity perspective on polarization. Public Opin. Q. 76:3405–31
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Jenkins JA, Stewart C. 2013. Fighting for the Speakership Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Jones B, Theriault S, Whyman M 2019. The Great Broadening: How the Vast Expansion of the Policymaking Agenda Changed American Politics Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Karol D. 2009. Party Position Change in American Politics: Coalition Management New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Karol D. 2015. American political parties: exceptional no more. Solutions to Political Polarization in America N Persily 208–17 New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Karol D. 2019. Red, Green, and Blue: The Partisan Divide on Environmental Issues New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Kernell S. 2003. “The true principles of republican government”: reassessing James Madison's political science. James Madison and the Theory and Practice of Republican Government S Kernell 92–125 Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Key VO Jr. 1964. Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups New York: Crowell
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Klar S, Krupnikov Y. 2016. Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Krimmel K. 2017. The efficiencies and pathologies of special interest partisanship. Stud. Am. Political Dev. 31:2149–69
    [Google Scholar]
  51. La Raja RJ, Schaffner BF 2015. Campaign Finance and Political Polarization: When Purists Prevail Ann Arbor: Univ. Mich. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Latham E. 1952. The group basis of politics: notes for a theory. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 46:2376–97
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Layman GC, Carsey TM, Green JC, Herrera R 2010. Activists and conflict extension in American party politics. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 104:2324–46
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Layman GC, Carsey TM, Horowitz JM 2006. Party polarization in American politics: characteristics, causes, and consequences. Annu. Rev. Political Sci. 9:83–110
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Lee FE. 2009. Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Lee FE. 2015. How party polarization affects governance. Annu. Rev. Political Sci. 18:261–82
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Lee FE. 2016. Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Lee FE, Curry JM. 2019. Non-party government: bipartisan lawmaking and party power in Congress. Perspect. Politics 17:147–65
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Leech B, Baumgartner FR, La Pira TM, Semanko NA 2005. Drawing lobbyists to Washington: government activity and the demand for advocacy. Political Res. Q. 58:119–30
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Levitsky S, Ziblatt D. 2018. How Democracies Die New York: Crown
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Lieberman RC, Mettler S, Pepinsky TB, Roberts KM, Valelly R 2019. The Trump presidency and American democracy: a historical and comparative analysis. Perspect. Politics 17:2470–79
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Linz J. 1990. The perils of presidentialism. J. Democracy 1:151–69
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Lunch WM. 1987. The Nationalization of American Politics Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Mann TE, Ornstein NJ. 2012. It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism New York: Basic Books
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Margolis MF. 2018. From Politics to the Pews: How Partisanship and the Political Environment Shape Religious Identity Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Martin GJ, Yurukoglu A. 2017. Bias in cable news: persuasion and polarization. Am. Econ. Rev. 107:92565–99
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Mason L. 2018. Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Mayhew DR. 1991. Divided We Govern: Party Control, Lawmaking, and Investigations New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Mayhew DR. 2002. Critical Realignments: A Critique of an American Genre New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  70. McAdam D, Kloos K. 2014. Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  71. McCarty N. 2019. Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  72. McCarty N, Poole KT, Rosenthal H 2006. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Melnick RS. 1994. Between the Lines: Interpreting Welfare Rights Washington, DC: Brookings Inst.
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Mickey R, Levitsky S, Way LA 2017. Is America still safe for democracy? Why the United States is in danger of backsliding. Foreign Aff 96:May/June20–29
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Moe TM. 1985. The politicized presidency. The New Direction in American Politics JE Chubb, PE Peterson 235–71 Washington, DC: Brookings Inst.
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Muirhead R, Rosenblum NL. 2019. A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  77. Neustadt R. 1960. Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents New York: Wiley
    [Google Scholar]
  78. O'Brian N. 2019. Racial realignment and the roots of contemporary polarization Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association Chicago, IL:
    [Google Scholar]
  79. Paddock JW. 2005. State and National Parties and American Democracy New York: Peter Lang
    [Google Scholar]
  80. Paddock JW. 2014. Local and state political parties. Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government DP Haider-Markel New York: Oxford Univ. Press https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579679.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199579679-e-007
    [Google Scholar]
  81. Peters R. 1990. The American Speakership: The Office in Historical Perspective Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  82. Pierson P. 2007. The rise and reconfiguration of activist government. The Transformation of American Politics: Activist Government and the Rise of Conservatism P Pierson, T Skocpol 19–38 Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  83. Pierson P. 2017. American hybrid: Donald Trump and the strange merger of populism and plutocracy. Br. J. Sociol. 68:105–19
    [Google Scholar]
  84. Polsby NW. 1997. The American party system. The New Federalist Papers A Brinkley, N Polsby, K Sullivan 37–44 Washington, DC: Brookings Inst.
    [Google Scholar]
  85. Poole KT, Rosenthal H. 1997. Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  86. Roberts KM. 2019. Parties, populism and democratic decay: a comparative perspective on party polarization in the United States. When Democracy Trumps Populism: European and Latin American Lessons for the United States K Weyland, R Madrid pp. 132–53 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  87. Rodden JA. 2019. Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban-Rural Political Divide New York: Basic Book
    [Google Scholar]
  88. Schaffner BF. 2011. Party polarization. Oxford Handbook of the American Congress E Schickler, FE Lee 527–49 New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  89. Schattschneider EE. 1942. Party Government New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston
    [Google Scholar]
  90. Schickler E. 2001. Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  91. Schickler E. 2016. Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932–1965 Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  92. Schlozman D. 2015. When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  93. Schlozman D, Rosenfeld S. 2019. The hollow parties. Can America Govern Itself? FE Lee, NM McCarty 120–52 New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  94. Shade WG. 1998. “The most delicate and exciting topics”: Martin Van Buren, slavery, and the election of 1836. J. Early Republic 18:3459–84
    [Google Scholar]
  95. Skocpol T. 2003. Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life Norman: Univ. Okla. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  96. Skocpol T. 2007. Activist government and the reorganization of American civic democracy. The Transformation of American Politics P Pierson, T Skocpol 39–67 Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  97. Skocpol T, Hertel-Fernandez A. 2016. The Koch network and Republican Party extremism. Perspect. Politics 14:681–99
    [Google Scholar]
  98. Skocpol T, Williamson V. 2013. The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  99. Skowronek S. 1997. The Politics Presidents Make Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  100. Sundquist J. 1983. Dynamics of the Party System Washington, DC: Brookings Inst.
    [Google Scholar]
  101. Truman DB. 1951. The Governmental Process New York: Knopf
    [Google Scholar]
  102. Truman DB. 1966. Federalism and the party system. American Party Politics D Herzberg, G Pomper 81–109 New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston
    [Google Scholar]
  103. Tucker J, Guess A, Barbera P, Vaccari C, Siegel A et al. 2018. Social media, political polarization, and political disinformation: a review of the scientific literature Rep., Hewlett Found. Menlo Park, CA:
    [Google Scholar]
  104. Weir M. 2005. States, race, and the decline of New Deal liberalism. Stud. Am. Political Dev. 19:157–72
    [Google Scholar]
  105. Zingher JN, Richman J. 2018. Polarization and the nationalization of state legislative elections. Am. Politics Res. 47:51036–54
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-033629
Loading
  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error