Magazine article
Building Associational Parties
Democracy Project
10 Dec 2025
Abstract
Our political system is failing because our political parties are failing.
Americans want an effective government, but they don’t believe that our political parties can govern well. Wary of politics and cynical about self-serving politicians, a plurality of Americans eschew party labels—a trend particularly pronounced among voters born after 1965. Indeed, in many states, including Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, and North Carolina, independents outnumber partisans on the voter rolls. Their frustration is understandable. But abandoning political parties is not a solution—not if what you want is better governance.
Parties are critical to democratic accountability and policy responsiveness. When critical masses of the population lose faith in parties, it’s not long until they lose faith in democracy itself. Political scientists have long known that young democracies need strong parties. What we are rapidly learning is that even the oldest and wealthiest of modern democracies are fragile when the parties are weak. The problem goes beyond polarization: our parties seem distant and removed from the people they serve, and there are few points of connection that give people the sense that their political engagement makes a meaningful difference in politics. Without a decisive and invested effort in party-building, people will only disengage further from politics—and risk greater contestation over the very meaning of democracy itself.
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Details
- Title
- Building Associational Parties
- Creators
- Tabatha A Abu El-Haj - Drexel University, Thomas R. Kline School of LawDidi Kuo - Stanford University
- Publication Details
- Democracy Project
- Resource Type
- Magazine article
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Other Identifier
- 991022199150904721