How do factions impact American politics?

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Dan DiSalvo joins Lee and James to discuss party factions. DiSalvo is a professor and chair of the political science department in the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. DiSalvo focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868-2010 (Oxford University Press, 2012) and Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences (Oxford University Press: 2015).

What are factions? What do they tell us about American politics? Do they make significant policy change possible? How have factions influenced government in the past? And what are the factions within the Democratic and Republican parties today? These are some of the questions Dan, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.