How Can a ‘Dysfunctional’ Phenomenon Evolve and Perpetuate?

Since WWII, America has been considered the quintessential democratic superpower. Yet between the economic beehive of private sector freedom and the responsibility of constitutional democracy, debilitating polarity threatens the archetype.

In Subordinating American Democracy, Robert L. Foster uses an analytical framework based on evolutionary theory and ecological principles to explore how hyperpartisanship thrives within our ecosystem. Examining relationships within and between the private and public sectors delineates an extensive hyperpartisan web supported by institutional and systemic structuring, cultural trends including partisan segregation or tribalism, and human psychology.

Subordinating American Democracy cuts through the trendy hype of partisan media analysis to articulate hyperpartisanship’s functionality. Through financial incentivization, psychological appeasement, and tribal bullying, hyperpartisanship supersedes functional democracy.

Subordinating American Democracy inspires readers to consider subtle aspects of their relationship with democratic instrumentalities and discover pathways toward constitutional functionality.