Event Lectures and Symposia Pillars of Democracy: Political Parties

Join the John W. Kluge Center, the Brookings Institution, and the American Enterprise Institute for a discussion of the party system, how it shapes our political futures, and how it might be improved.

Though mention of political parties is not to be found in the founding documents of the United States, and many early American leaders thought them dangerous to the new government, party politics quickly became a central part of the political system. Indeed parties are essential to organizing mass politics in democracies.

Despite periodic efforts to create new parties, for well over a century nothing has broken the hold of the Democratic and Republican parties on governance and elections. But while a president or major legislative faction from outside the two-party system may be hard to imagine in the near future, primary elections, party discipline in voting, and the relationships between the parties have changed a great deal in recent decades. Public attitudes towards the parties have changed as well.

Panelists for the program include:

Henry Olsen is a Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC).

Tasha Philpot is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin Department of Government, where she is also affiliated with the Center for African and African American Studies, the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis, and the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies.

Sophia Jordán Wallace is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington.

Lee Drutman is a senior fellow in the Political Reform program at the New America Foundation.