America’s Party System and the Problem of Union

The National Affairs Podcast

What type of party system best suits the American regime? What can we do to cultivate such a party system? Amid the current tumult and polarization of our politics, much of it the result of the degradation of our parties, it behooves us to seek answers to these questions, and to learn from past efforts to give shape to the American party system.

Guest Daniel Stid joins us to discuss reforms to the party system that could restore coalition building and union to American politics.

Daniel Stid is the executive director of Lyceum Labs, a project of the Defending Democracy Together Institute that seeks to “reimagine political leadership and parties and the contributions they could make to U.S. democracy by rallying a coalition of like-minded charitable organizations dedicated to these goals.” He previously served as the founding director of the Hewlett Foundation’s U.S. Democracy Program, and he writes a blog called “The Art of Association.”

This podcast discusses themes from Daniel’s essay in the Fall 2023 issue of National Affairs, “A Madisonian Party System.”