Mischiefs of Faction
This post is part of Mischiefs of Faction, an independent political science blog featuring reflections on the party system.
The similarities between Andrew Johnson and Donald Trump.
A proposed reform that would get rid of direct election of senators and bring back the corruption and stagnation of the Gilded Age. What’s not to like?
The Republican health bill is dead for now. The political confusion remains.
Agreeing on reform requires agreeing on performance.
The GOP is stuck between a rock and a hard place of its own making.
What we need is more expertise and experience, not less.
The political message of the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Fact-checking fails to move the needle toward one’s political opponents.
We deserve to know who our president is.
Senate Republicans’ secretive approach to health care reform isn’t that new.
Efforts to silence women of color have largely failed due to the persistence of women in counteracting them.
Are we heading for an era of political violence as people lose faith in their governing systems?
But it’s not just about polarization.
Why the GOP is so focused and ideological, and yet still so divided.
Trump’s actions regarding the Paris agreement remind us there are warring factions within the GOP.
What the 2016 presidential election taught me about America’s polarization problem.
A look back on changes in political science blogging since the founding of Mischiefs of Faction.
Happy fifth birthday, Mischiefs of Faction.
There are evident risks to opening the door to using the 25th Amendment to remove presidents on the basis of general concerns about unfitness or mental instability.
There is no nonpartisan, apolitical mechanism to evaluate abuses of power and remove a president from office.
It’s silly to insult Republican members of Congress for responding to political incentives.
This was the right call if you’re more scared of primary activists than of general election voters.
By focusing his populist appeals on conspiracy rhetoric — rather than substantive policy — Trump galvanized the broad support needed to overcome the party establishment.
For every aspect of Trump’s presidency that looks like a typical new executive or a standard Republican, we get at least one thing that reminds us how little he is tethered to party, ideology, or governing traditions.
In Georgia’s Sixth District, Democrats and Republicans faced obstacles — and mostly overcame them.
Women’s groups faced several obstacles to policy successes.
A rule change to confirm Neil Gorsuch led many to predict the end of the filibuster. Not so fast.
A hundred years since Jeanette Rankin’s election, American women have come far in politics, but women elsewhere have come further.
Rankin would likely see the glass as both half full and half empty when it comes to women, campaigns, and elections.
When viable female candidates run for major offices currently held by men, women became significantly more politically engaged in politics.
When partisans view each other as morally wrongheaded, parties cease to perform their vital functions.
Women have been far more prominent in American politics throughout history than conventional wisdom might suggest.
Rankin is remembered for two big things: being the first female member of Congress, and her votes against both World War I and World War II.
Gerrymandering frequently, and wrongly, gets the blame for government dysfunction.
Five things to look for while watching the vote on the American Health Care Act.
The use of advanced data analysis campaigns is important, but it’s not causing polarization.
Democrats tend to believe in the wisdom of crowds more than Republicans.
Applying data visualization tools to the onslaught of information about team Trump’s ties to Russia helps us understand what’s happening.
The level of secrecy surrounding the GOP’s Obamacare replacement seems unusual, but it’s not.
Experiments suggest progressives will have a harder time converting protests into policy, compared with the Tea Party.