Crisis! When Political Parties Lose the Consent to Rule

FEATURING CEDRIC DE LEON – The two party system in the US today appears to be in serious crisis, with political polarization and seemingly insurmountable divides across the nation. But there is a precedent to this moment. Drawing from history, my next guest shows how the two party system has faced an existential crisis before.

Cedric de Leon, Director of the Labor Center and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of The Origins of Right to Work, and Party and Society, and co-editor of Building Blocs: How Parties Organize Society. His latest book is ‘Crisis!: When Political Parties Lose the Consent to Rule.’

*This segment was originally broadcast on November 12, 2019.