Overview

Once a centralizing force of the democratic process, political parties have eroded over the past fifty years. Parties now rank among the most unpopular institutions in society--less trusted than business, the police, and the media. Identification with parties has plummeted, and even those who are loyal to a party report feeling that parties care more about special interests than about regular citizens. What does a ""good"" political party look like? Why do we urgently need them? And how do we get them? The Great Retreat explores the development of political parties as democracy expanded across the West in the nineteenth century. It focuses in particular on mass parties, and the ways they served as intermediaries that fostered ties between citizens and governments. For democracy to adapt to a new era of global capitalism, Kuo makes the case that we need strong intermediaries like mass parties--socially embedded institutions with deep connections to communities and citizens. Parties are essential to long-term democratic stability and economic growth, while the breakdown of party systems, on the other hand, has historically led to democratic collapse. As trust in political parties has plummeted, The Great Retreat provides a powerful defense of political parties--for without parties, democratic representation is impossible.

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Didi Kuo is a Center Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. She is the author of Clientelism, Capitalism, and Democracy: The Rise of Programmatic Politics in the United States and Britain, was an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellow at New America, and has written widely about democratization, capitalism, and political parties. Hannah Choi is an American actress based in Los Angeles. Her TV/film credits include appearances on ABC's How to Get Away with Murder, American Housewife, and Grand Hotel. She received her MA in acting from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire ""across the pond"" in the United Kingdom. Her roles often showcase strong, trustworthy, career professionals with a sometimes dry and sarcastic bent. When not narrating, Hannah can be found with a good cup of tea, or throwing some new pottery at the ceramics studio. She loves the sci-fi fantasy genre in any medium, and is a particular lover of rainy days.

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