The Causes of Party Polarization in America Term Paper

The Causes of Party Polarization in America - Term cover ExamplePolarization is defined in politics as the process through which public nonions ar divided and go to extremes (Baumer and Howard 22). Party polarisation is defined as the process through which extreme factions within a political party gain some form of dominance within the party. In much(prenominal) a case, the moderate factions tend to lose influence and power. In recent years, the get together States political system has witnessed increased polarization. Party polarization has had consequences in the United States especially with respect to policymaking. Whereas the parties tend to go to the extremes, the public opinion does not really go to the extreme. That notwithstanding, party polarization greatly shape public opinion especially in regard to policy. Party polarization is very evident in both the Congress and the Senate (Ura and Christopher 280). The state of American politics is increasingly dour by partis an polarization the two major political parties have grown ideologically more unified internally and farther apart from distributively other. As the two parties policy preferences diverge further from each other at the elite level, it naturally sustains more difficult for the two to work together. With the wither rank of ideological moderates, the possibilities of bipartisan negotiation and compromise diminish. Today the two parties clash with each other more often and more strenuously and modishly than recent history in Washington and in state capitals. Party-based conflicts, policy stagnation, and paralysis inspired by party competition seem to have become the norm in the early twenty-first century. It is against the above background that it is important to understand party polarization in the United States. To achieve this, this paper allow seek to respond to the following questions What are the roots of partisan polarization? What specific developments in the emergence of t he political parties led to party polarization? What are the main contributing factors to the re-emergence of party polarization? How is partisan polarization linked to deeper cultural divisions within American society? What have been the policy consequences of partisan polarization for the policy process? Roots of Partisan Polarization Partisan polarization in American politics traces its roots from the period of the Civil War. However, it became more unmingled after the attainment of American independence. Over the past century and a half, the American political system has been dominated by two main parties. third base parties that have emerged from that time achieved some measured success, but in the end, they have usually been absorbed by one of the dominant parties (Frymer 336). Partisan polarization has been as a result of ideological differences that can be traced throughout the American political history it has emanated from the ideological divide of liberalists versus con servatives. It is also important to note that on that point are other factors apart from the ideology that has been critical in creating partisan polarization for example, geographical divisions have been so evident as parties have taken the dimensions of the Southern or Northern wings (Pearson 1). While the rapid rise in partisan polarization is relatively recent, the origins of party polarization are not in fact, much of what we see today can be traced back to the early twentieth century.