Political parties are the defining institutions of representative democracy and the darlings of political science. Their governing and electoral functions are among the chief concerns of the field. ...Yet most political theorists--including democratic theorists--ignore or disparage parties as grubby arenas of ambition, obstacles to meaningful political participation and deliberation. On the Side of the Angels is a vigorous defense of the virtues of parties and partisanship, and their worth as a subject for political theory.
Violence so often begets violence. Victims respond with revenge only to inspire seemingly endless cycles of retaliation. Conflicts between nations, between ethnic groups, between strangers, and ...between family members differ in so many ways and yet often share this dynamic. In this powerful and timely book Martha Minow and others ask: What explains these cycles and what can break them? What lessons can we draw from one form of violence that might be relevant to other forms? Can legal responses to violence provide accountability but avoid escalating vengeance? If so, what kinds of legal institutions and practices can make a difference? What kinds risk failure? Breaking the Cycles of Hatred represents a unique blend of political and legal theory, one that focuses on the double-edged role of memory in fueling cycles of hatred and maintaining justice and personal integrity. Its centerpiece comprises three penetrating essays by Minow. She argues that innovative legal institutions and practices, such as truth commissions and civil damage actions against groups that sponsor hate, often work better than more conventional criminal proceedings and sanctions. Minow also calls for more sustained attention to the underlying dynamics of violence, the connections between intergroup and intrafamily violence, and the wide range of possible responses to violence beyond criminalization.
Despite their centrality to modern democracy, until recently political parties were relegated to the margins of normative democratic theory, taking a back seat to social movements, civil society ...associations, deliberative experiments, spaces for local participatory government, and direct popular participation. Yet, in the past 15 years, a burgeoning literature has emerged in democratic theory focused directly on parties and partisanship; that is our focus in this review. We locate three main normative defenses of parties: one centered in the special role parties can play in political justification as agents of public reason, a second that looks to the way parties contribute to deliberation, and a third that focuses on the partisan commitment to regulated political rivalry and peaceful rotation in office. In this last connection, we survey work on the constitutional status of parties and reasons for banning parties. We then consider the relation of partisanship to citizenship, and in a fourth section we turn to the ethics of partisanship. Parties and partisanship are interwoven but separable: If partisans are necessary to realize the value of parties, the reverse holds as well, and parties are necessary to realize the value of partisanship.
What we call the "partisan connection"-the bridge parties build between the people and the formal polity-entails sympathizing with citizens' suspicions and fears (though not recklessly stoking them). ...However, loosening the partisan connection and "speaking truth to conspiracy" is sometimes a moral and political imperative when conspiracy charges come from party leaders' constituents and fellow partisans. We consider epistemological challenges that make it difficult to assess whether conspiracy claims are warranted, and we consider political challenges to assessing the validity of conspiracy claims that are posed by the secrecy, misleading partial truths, obscurantism, and lying that are endemic to politics. Finally, we propose three standards for responsible party officials to use when judging whether to oppose conspiratorial claims: when they are fueled by hatred of certain groups; when they represent the opposition as treasonous and illegitimate; and when conspiracism extends to authority generally, especially expert authority, thereby undermining the basic work of government decision making.
According to the first, "presentist" view, government capacity is taxed by the scope and complexity of problems and the vast number of claimants.2 A proliferating array of interest and advocacy ...groups agitates for and against every policy, incessantly demanding response. ...quite recently, history was thought to have a direction and purpose - a teleology.
Against the background of historical antipartyism in practice and in democratic theory, and with a focus on American political thought, this paper takes issue with contemporary arguments that value ...the political identity 'Independent' and disparage partisanship. A typology of 'Independent' is offered and both empirical and moral claims about the superiority of Independent voters are rebutted, with particular focus on the 'weightlessness' of Independents. The reasons to appreciate the moral distinctiveness of partisanship for democracy are set out: commitment to political pluralism, to regulated political rivalry, and to shifting responsibility for governing. Inclusiveness, comprehensiveness, and compromisingness set the contours for an ethic of partisanship.
Demographic changes and the stakes for both democracy and immigrants themselves make the political incorporation of immigrants a key political issue in the USA today. Two structural features of ...American politics help with political incorporation by providing multiple opportunities for political activity: federalism with its enormous number of state and local government elections and offices, and the permeable character of political parties. Naturalization, voter registration, and political participation are central to the political incorporation of immigrants, and we argue that historically and still today, political parties are the key institutions charged with political incorporation in the USA. Parties' goal in the political incorporation of immigrants should be to create long-term partisans, not just to naturalize immigrants and create voters in the next election. Partisanship has noninstrumental significance as well. As political identity and practice, partisanship has a good claim to earning immigrants' recognition as citizens, and a distinctive claim to achieving incorporation in a moral register. We conclude that partisanship stands out from movement and protest politics, advocacy, and even voting per se as a form of political incorporation.
In this inaugural volume of the Alexis de Tocqueville Lectures, Ceaser traces how certain "foundational" ideas--including nature, history, and religion--have been understood and used over the course ...of American history. Three commentators challenge his arguments, and a spirited debate about large and enduring questions in American politics ensues.
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