Parties, Polarization, and Pluralism Lab

In Federalist 10, James Madison argues that one virtue of the American political system is the means by which it addresses the ‘tyranny of the majority.’ By enabling the governance of a large, diverse society, the U.S. political system would encourage pragmatic, issue-by-issue political coalitions, ensuring that that no single set of likeminded actors would seize unchecked power. Operationally, this implies that when interests seek to partner with legislators in the policymaking process, they do so on a legislator-by-legislator basis, aligning themselves with other legislators and interests without consideration of a broader agenda, “vision,” or worldview.

The Parties, Polarization and Pluralism Lab is engaged in a multi-year data collection effort to analyze whether organized interests, political parties, and American democracies today still operate in this fashion.

In the lab, student researchers read primary source material from the U.S. Congress, in order to document instances of organized interests taking positions on congressional legislation, from 1973 to 2020. Source material includes floor speeches in the Congressional Record, as well as original documentation of letters sent directly from organized interests to prominent members of Congress. In collecting these data, students will help to document the evolving relationship between the U.S. major political parties and the foundational social interests underlying them.

The project will culminate in the publication of the book Taking Sides: Party Competition, Interest Group Strategy, and the Polarization of American Pluralism, which Dr. Crosson is writing with Drs. Alexander Furnas (Northwestern University) and Geoffrey Lorenz (University of Nebraska-Lincoln).

This lab is directed by Dr. Jesse Crosson.