Can Social Movements Resolve the Crisis of the U.S. Party System?
38 Pages Posted: 22 Aug 2013
Date Written: 2013
Abstract
I have argued in other work that the US party system is in a crisis, combining intense partisanship with an inability to handle such major issues as climate change, a democratic foreign policy, or redirection of the economy toward sustainable prosperity. In the past such crises were resolved by intervention of minor parties, leading to realignment of the system. Today, such intervention appears to be blocked by a number of factors. In this paper, I examine the possibility that the crisis might be resolved by non-electoral means, such as the Occupy protests and increased labor militancy. The paper will use twitter feeds, websites, and other ephemeral sources to make a detailed study of the Occupy movement, in particular, to try to determine its real impact on public opinion, and through public opinion on the election of 2012 and the propsect of future electoral impact.
Keywords: parties, politics, crisis, realignment, Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, reform, stalemate, gridlock
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