La polarización política en Estados Unidos

The institutional system of the United States, one of the most admired in the world, has long been showing signs of malfunction. Political hostilities resulted in the presidency of Donald Trump and the storming of a colorful and dangerous mob on Capitol Hill during the attempted coup on January 6, 2021. However, the problems had been building up for decades and continue. then, as Josep Colomer, the most internationally prestigious Spanish political scientist, observes in this lucid essay. The institutional design of the North American power, based on the separation of powers between Congress and the Presidency with only two parties, creates perverse incentives for antagonism and the emergence of bitter political and territorial rivalries. Only in the face of an external enemy that appears as an existential threat, as occurred during the Second World War and the Cold War, are internal fractures contained and conflictive issues that institutions cannot successfully resolve in a lasting manner are put aside. Transcending more or less colorful anecdotes, Political Polarization in the United States is a brilliant and dispassionate analysis of the roots of the greatest paradox of Western democracies: the deterioration in the effectiveness of rulers generates a growing tension on the political scene.