While Republicans have used legislative majorities at the state level to undermine their opposition, the Democratic Party has too often failed to fight back.
As social movements move beyond the default anarchist sensibility that prevailed through Occupy, they must still reckon with hard questions about bureaucracy and cooptation.
In the past five years, abolitionists and advocates of criminal justice reform in Los Angeles County have amassed some impressive victories—laying out a vision for reducing incarceration and providing care that could have national significance.
Political scientists Frances Fox Piven and Daniel Schlozman have debated whether movements do better to put pressure on political parties from the outside, or to focus on gaining insider power themselves.
Daniel Schlozman argues that, by becoming “anchor groups” within mainstream political parties, movements can secure lasting influence. But is entry into a party worth the price of admission?