How Polarization Begets Polarization: Ideological Extremism in the US Congress

Extreme polarization in American politics—and especially in the U.S. Congress—is perhaps the most confounding political phenomenon of our time. This book binds together polarization in Congress and polarization in the electorate within an ever-expanding feedback loop. This loop is powered by the discipline exerted by the respective political parties on their Congressional members and district candidates and endorsed by the voters in each Congressional district who must choose between the al...