Why America Needs a New Electoral System

America’s electoral system is a global outlier. No other democracy uses primaries to select its political candidates; our two-party system is among the world’s strictest; and the average lawmaker represents vastly more constituents than those in nearly any other country. Meanwhile, antidemocratic extremism in American politics is escalating, and arguably with more success than in other advanced democracies. This lecture will explore how the two phenomena are related: how outlier features of the U.S. electoral system are aggravating antidemocratic extremism—and how certain reforms may help to turn the tide.