Working paper: “The Broken Republic”

I’ve revised my working paper, “The Broken Republic.” It is available on SSRN. Comments are appreciated. I’ll be giving a couple of talks based on this paper later in the semester.

Abstract: “Advocates for the American republic have long celebrated its capacity for reinvention in the face of new challenges. But there are strong reasons to question that claim today. The American system of government is broken. It cannot respond effectively to major problems or reconfigure itself to perform better. It would be misguided to blame President Trump alone for this state of affairs. Trump policies are largely a symptom of systemic failure, not the cause. The real weaknesses of the American republic go to the core of its current design, which is not equal to the requirements of a large and complex polity. The system is over-centralized. Federal institutions are incapable of expressing and reconciling the aspirations of American citizens. States lack capacity to compensate for dysfunction in Washington. Political innovation and systemic reform are hampered by a nationalized party duopoly, constitutional rigidity, and populist political culture. In large part, this systemic crisis is the unintended consequence of a century of good-government reforms. Putting the system right will also be a multi-generational project.”