The Path to Paralysis: How American Politics Became Nasty, Dysfunctional, and a Threat to the Republic
How did the world’s oldest democracy lose its mojo? How did we get to a point where we face existential crises like climate change yet leaders can’t agree that there’s a problem let alone develop solutions? Political leaders bear some of the responsibility. Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, to name a few, have shattered political norms and transformed our politics into a free-for-all in which personal attacks, appeals to bigotry and fear, disregard for truth, and disdain for governing have become the norm. But they are more a symptom than the cause. The Path to Paralysis examines changes in political culture during the past 60 years – conflict over race, religion and gender; wrenching economic changes and growing concentration of wealth; the end of the Cold War; hardening regional divisions; and dramatic changes in communications – that made Donald Trump possible, if not inevitable. Long in the making, these cross-currents came together in the early 21st century – as the United States experienced the deepest recession since the 1930s and elected its first Black president – to create the perfect storm. The result was toxic and deeply polarised politics that threatened the existence of constitutional government.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donald G. Nieman is an authority on modern U.S. law and politics, and professor of history and provost emeritus at Binghamton University — State University of New York.
His latest book, The Path to Paralysis: How Our Politics Became Nasty, Dysfunctional, and a Threat to the Republic, will be published by Anthem Press in October 2024. It offers the first comprehensive analysis of how we became so polarized and why there's no easy way out of the current crisis.
He is the author and editor of many other books, including Promises to Keep: African Americans and the Constitutional Order, 1776-Present, an influential history of civil rights in the U.S. His op-eds on contemporary American politics have appeared in the Washington Post, Newsweek, Huffington Post and Salon, to name a few. His research has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and New York University School of Law.
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