A vision—and detailed road map to power—for a new party that will champion America’s rational center. From debt ceiling standoffs to single-digit Congress approval ratings, America’s political system has never been more polarized—or paralyzed—than it is today. As best-selling author and public policy expert Charles Wheelan writes, now is the time for a pragmatic Centrist party that will identify and embrace the best Democratic and Republican ideals, moving us forward on the most urgent issues for our nation. Wheelan—who not only lectures on public policy but practices it as well (he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2009)—brings even more than his usual wit and clarity of vision to The Centrist Manifesto. He outlines a realistic ground game that could net at least five Centrist senators from New England, the Midwest, and elsewhere. With the power to deny a red or blue Senate majority, committed Centrists could take the first step toward giving voice and power to America’s largest, and most rational, voting bloc: the center.
This book demonstrates how political entrepreneurs – entrepreneurially minded citizens who launch innovative political start-ups – can drive political change. Building on unique insights, rich examples and personal stories of centrist political entrepreneurs distilled from 40 in-depth interviews, the author guides readers through key stages of political entrepreneurship, and shows how to master them. By equally highlighting successes and failures, the book reveals how political entrepreneurs actually go about producing transformative political change. In light of the populist challenge and the decline of traditional political parties, the book also offers an entertaining backstage view and first-hand insights into the successes of En Marche in France, Ciudadanos in Spain, NEOS in Austria and other centrist political startups. It provides practical advice on how to learn from and replicate their successes. Political practitioners and other politically interested readers will find a useful theory of Political Entrepreneurship – what it is, how it works, and what its role is in 21st century democracies. Most of all, they will find essential, reproducible tools and methods. “You have read a lot about startups in business, but if you want to know how Silicon Valley style startups look in politics, read this. Its author is not only writing about political entrepreneurs, he is one of them.” Ivan Krastev (Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, and permanent Fellow at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna) “No one understands better what it takes to take a political start up from ideation to the parliament than Josef Lentsch. In ‘Political Entrepreneurship’ he combines first-hand experience with a thoughtful review of what we know about entrepreneurship in the interest of society.” Johanna Mair (Professor of Organization, Strategy and Leadership at the Hertie School of Governance, and Co-Director Global Innovation for Impact Lab at Stanford University) “Josef Lentsch has produced a fascinating, commanding guide to the new, insurgent players shaking up traditional party systems and reinvigorating liberal politics. Political Entrepreneurship is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand today's fragmented and disrupted European politics - and the European politics of the future.” Jeremy Cliffe (Charlemagne columnist, The Economist) "The rarest of events has occurred - a new political species has appeared in the European eco-system, the centrist political start up. From Macron's En Marche in France to Spain's Ciudadanos, a new type of political actor has emerged. Few are better positioned to tell this Europe-wide story than Josef Lentsch who has had a front-seat view on this important political transformation that is shaking Europe. A dramatic and important account." Daniel Ziblatt (Eaton Professor of Government, Harvard University and co-author of How Democracies Die)
Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.
Today almost half of all Americans decline to define themselves as either "liberal" or "conservative." In fact, modern liberalism and conservatism seem hopelessly fragmented ideologies. Liberals claim to believe in individual freedom yet advocate a more collectivistic approach to government and an increasingly paternalistic role for the state. Conservatives are hopelessly divided between two incompatible ideals--the highly individualistic, limited-state philosophy of classical liberalism and an older, more collectivistic tradition of cultural conservatism that holds government responsible for shaping social morality. As a result, modern liberals are economic collectivists and moral individualists, while conservatives are economic individualists and moral collectivists. Centrists reject each of these fragmented and polarized approaches to politics. We believe that government has a role to play in structuring social and economic opportunities and in reinforcing basic moral norms, yet we are deeply troubled by ever-expanding government. We reject libertarianism, left-liberalism, and the various schools of conservatism as a model for government. Part I of The Political Centrist briefly traces the trajectory of the liberal and conservative traditions. It argues that modern liberalism is an unprincipled fusion of classical liberal and socialist ideals while modern conservatism is an untenable hybrid of economic liberalism and social conservatism. Part II offers a centrist approach to many of the most contentious contemporary political and social issues. Those include: -- abortion -- affirmative action -- the death penalty -- gay marriage -- illegal immigration -- judicial activism -- the relationship of religion and politics -- the role of government in the economy
What exactly is happening when politicians evoke a center space beyond partisan politics to advance what are unmistakably political arguments? Drawing from an analysis of pivotal speeches surrounding Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and first term in office, Centrist Rhetoric: The Production of Political Transcendence in the Clinton Presidency takes an extended look at this question by showing how the possibility of political transcendence takes form in the rhetoric of the political center. Faced with a divided and shrinking party, and later with a pitched battle against a resurgent conservative movement, Clinton used the image of a political center, a 'third way' beyond liberal and conservative orthodoxies, to advance his strategic goals, define his adversaries, and overcome key political challenges. As appeals to the center helped Clinton to achieve these advantages in specific cases, however, they also served to define the means, ends, and very essence of democracy in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Touching on controversies from the early 1990s over the future of the Democratic Party, racial identity in American politics, the threat of rightwing extremism, and the role of government, Antonio de Velasco show how centrist rhetoric's call to transcendence weaved together forms of identification and division, insight and blindness, so as to defy the conventional assessments of both Clinton's supporters and his detractors. Centrist Rhetoric thus offers general insight into the workings of political rhetoric, and a specific appreciation of Clinton's attempts to define and adjust to the political exigencies of a critical period in history of the Democratic Party and politics in the United States.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "How did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document ... is Applebaum's answer." —Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian explains, with electrifying clarity, why elites in democracies around the world are turning toward nationalism and authoritarianism. From the United States and Britain to continental Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege, while authoritarianism is on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum, an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities who was one of the first American journalists to raise an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West, explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. In this captivating essay, she contends that political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else. Elegantly written and urgently argued, Twilight of Democracy is a brilliant dissection of a world-shaking shift and a stirring glimpse of the road back to democratic values.
This is a study of what it means, both strategically and intellectually, to take the center position in politics. The two specific political centers considered are the efforts in France and England after the Napoleonic Wars to establish middle class rule as a permanent center, or "juste milieu "between the extremes of revolution and reaction. The four prototypical political thinkers examined are Pierre Paul Royer-Collard and Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot in France, and the English reform Whigs, Henry Peter Brougham and Thomas Babington Macaulay. Starzinger carefully explains his choice of these critical figures, emphasizing in his new introduction a current climate of opinion that is far more appreciative of their contribution to modem constitutional government than the critics have been in the past. This is much more than an historical study. It is an effort to examine the enduring ideas and dynamics of political "centrism" which help explain why the center sometimes proves to be a hopeless position, but in other circumstances can hold or even vanquish its foes to left and right The work is highlighted by a comparative mode of analysis which explores these questions with sustained sensitivity to the differing social and political contexts of 19th century France and England. Starzinger also considers the moral dilemma of those who hold the middle ground. He asks whether such a center position must always lead to opportunism as its critics claim, or may instead serve some high ethical purpose. Finally, in examining the "juste milieu "concepts of sovereignty, representation, freedom, and history, he addresses critically the classic question of what indeed the relationship is between political ideas and underlying social class. This book will be of interest to both political scientists and historians.
Inspired by Freud’s The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, this book examines the unconscious processes shaping contemporary political ideologies. Addressing ten fundamental questions, Robert Samuels identifies four basic political ideologies: liberal, conservative, Left, and Right, which are often placed in the structure of a logical square, determined by two binary oppositions, with a fifth structure of centrism complicating the square. He turns to psychoanalysis to explain the unconscious defense mechanisms that structure these political ideologies. Each chapter uses a recent, influential title as a gateway to the analysis of the ideologies and structures identified. Through this analysis, Samuels argues that belief in ideological structures is tied to triumvirates of institutions and ideals; conservatives being tied to premodern institutions of religion, feudalism, and monarchy, while modern liberals are tied to ideals of universality, objectivity, and empiricism. He concludes that this investment in universality shapes the ethics of modern globalization and democratic liberalism. Unlike other books, conclusions are reinforced through examples drawn from current events with an integrated model of different psychopathologies. The Psychopathology of Political Ideologies moves beyond providing an understanding of what drives different political investments, to offer a more rational and conscious comprehension of subjectivity and social organization. This book will be a great resource for those interested in politics, political science psychology, social psychology, globalization, and ideology.
How popular democracy has paradoxically eroded trust in political systems worldwide, and how to restore confidence in democratic politics In recent decades, democracies across the world have adopted measures to increase popular involvement in political decisions. Parties have turned to primaries and local caucuses to select candidates; ballot initiatives and referenda allow citizens to enact laws directly; many places now use proportional representation, encouraging smaller, more specific parties rather than two dominant ones.Yet voters keep getting angrier.There is a steady erosion of trust in politicians, parties, and democratic institutions, culminating most recently in major populist victories in the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Frances Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro argue that devolving power to the grass roots is part of the problem. Efforts to decentralize political decision-making have made governments and especially political parties less effective and less able to address constituents’ long-term interests. They argue that to restore confidence in governance, we must restructure our political systems to restore power to the core institution of representative democracy: the political party.
Political positions in the United States today are ideologically chaotic, and there are significant prices to pay for that chaos. The nation has not reached a crisis yet in her modern political gridlock, but predicting the time when the current generation will face the difficulties of earlier times of crisis such as the Civil War, the Great Depression, or World War II is a difficult task. When that time comes, leaders who can communicate effectively to foster understanding and political unity and who can respond to a crisis with skilled direction will be a vital concern. Making Sense of Political Ideology explores the erosion of ties among ideology, language, and political action. Analyzing political language strategies, it shows how to dissect language so we can better understand a speaker's ideology. The authors define four political positions radical, liberal, conservative, reactionary and apply their techniques to contemporary issues such as the war on terrorism. They emphasize the dangers of staying trapped in political gridlock with no consensus for governmental direction and propose that the ability to identify and bridge positions can help political communicators toward constructing coalitions and building support for political action."
