Asymmetric Partisan Polarization, Labor Policy, and Cross-State Political Power-Building

• Published in: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 685; no. 1; pp. 64 - 79
• Main Author: HERTEL-FERNANDEZ, ALEXANDER
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Inc 01.09.2019; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Activism; Case studies; Employment policies; Feedback; General Lessons; Partisanship; Polarization; Political activism; Political parties; Political power; Political systems; Politicians; State power; state policy; federalism; unions; policy feedback; conservative movement; labor policy
• ISSN: 0002-7162; 1552-3349
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716219862524

As the Republican Party has moved to the Right, conservative politicians have become more comfortable viewing policy as a means of demobilizing their political adversaries. In this article, I show how conservative activists within the Republican Party have leveraged cutbacks to union rights to weaken their political opponents. This case study thus reveals the role of policy feedback strategies in asymmetric partisan polarization. It also illustrates lessons about the conditions under which policy feedback can durably shift the distribution of power in America’s fragmented polity. These insights underscore how the success of policy feedback effects depends not just on the initial passage of policies in one city or state, but on the ability of political actors to organize in multiple venues simultaneously. In particular, they highlight the importance of organizing at the cross-state level given the substantial political authority of states.