The Great Retreat

Abstract

The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don’t examines political parties as an institution central to democracy. It provides a defense of parties, and argues that to strengthen democracy, we need stronger parties. It provides a history of the relationship of parties to democracy, showing how parties shaped democratic governance, socialized citizens into politics, and created effective representative institutions. The Great Retreat traces the decline of the mass organization party and the rising pressures on parties in a neoliberal era. It also shows how parties historically mediated democratic capitalism, arguing that their contemporary inability to do so has furthered democratic backsliding. Drawing lessons from party development in other regions of the world, including Europe and Latin America, this book argues for a comparative approach to understanding American political parties. It cautions against the antiparty sentiment in democracies today, arguing that stronger parties have the potential to renew democracy.