Democratic Resilience
Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization?

This book examines how polarization threatens democracy and the sources of political and institutional resilience that can help sustain it.

Robert C. Lieberman (Edited by), Suzanne Mettler (Edited by), Kenneth M. Roberts (Edited by)

9781108995641, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 November 2021

320 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.65 kg

Politics in the United States has become increasingly polarized in recent decades. Both political elites and everyday citizens are divided into rival and mutually antagonistic partisan camps, with each camp questioning the political legitimacy and democratic commitments of the other side. Does this polarization pose threats to democracy itself? What can make some democratic institutions resilient in the face of such challenges? Democratic Resilience brings together a distinguished group of specialists to examine how polarization affects the performance of institutional checks and balances as well as the political behavior of voters, civil society actors, and political elites. The volume bridges the conventional divide between institutional and behavioral approaches to the study of American politics and incorporates historical and comparative insights to explain the nature of contemporary challenges to democracy. It also breaks new ground to identify the institutional and societal sources of democratic resilience.

Part I. Why Might Polarization Harm Democracy? Theory and Comparison
1. How Democracies Endure: The Challenges of Polarization and Resilience Robert C. Lieberman, Suzanne Mettler, and Kenneth M. Roberts
2. Polarization and the Durability of Madisonian Checks and Balances: A Developmental Analysis Paul Pierson and Eric Schickler
3. Pernicious Polarization and Democratic Resilience: Analyzing the United States in Comparative Perspective Jennifer McCoy and Murat Somer
Part II. Political Institutions in Polarized Times
4. Cross-Cutting Cleavages, Political Institutions, and Democratic Resilience in the US Frances E. Lee
5. Unilateralism Unleashed? Polarization and the Politics of Executive Action Douglas L. Kriner
6. Court-Packing and Democratic Erosion Thomas M. Keck
Part III. Social Polarization and Partisanship
7. The Social Roots, Risks, and Rewards of Mass Polarization Lilliana Mason and Nathan P. Kalmoe
8. The Great White Hope: Threat and Racial Resilience in the Age of Trump Christopher Sebastian Parker and Matt A. Barreto
9. The Religious Sort: The Causes and Consequences of the Religiosity Gap in America Michele F. Margolis
10. Weaponized Group Identities and the Health of Democracy: Why the National Rifle Association is Good at Democracy but Bad for It Matthew J. Lacombe
Part IV. Vicious Circles? The Relationship Between Polarized Behavior and Institutions
11. Polarization, the Administrative State, and Executive-Centered Partisanship Desmond King and Sidney Milkis
12. Laboratories of What? American Federalism and the Politics of Democratic Subversion Philip Rocco
13. Conservative Extra-Party Coalitions and Statehouse Democracy Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
Part V. Can Political Action Save Democracy in Polarized Times? 14. Elections, Polarization, and Democratic Resilience David A. Bateman
15. Citizen Mobilization and Partisan Polarizations from the Tea Party to the Anti-Trump Resistance Theda Skocpol, Caroline Tervo, and Kirsten Walters.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], History of the Americas [HBJK]