Lee Drutman

Lee Drutman is one of the hosts of the podcast series ‘Politics in Question’. He is a senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America. He is also the author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America (Oxford University Press 2020), and The Business of America is Lobbying (Oxford University Press, 2015) and winner of the 2016 American Political Science Association's Robert A. Dahl Award, given for "scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy.” He has also published numerous pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vox, NBC Think, and Foreign Policy, among many other outlets. He has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. 

In his book, “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America” (Oxford University Press 2020), Lee Drutman argues that we now have, for the first time in American history, a true two-party political system. Weaving together history, democratic theory, and political science research, Drutman tells the story of how American politics became so toxic, why the country is trapped in a doom loop of escalating two-party warfare, and why it is destroying the shared sense of fairness and legitimacy on which democracy depends. With the two parties divided over competing visions of national identity, Democrats and Republicans no longer see each other as opponents, but as enemies. And the more the conflict escalates, the more democracy potentially erodes. The reviews of “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop” have been largely positive. In a testimonial, Ezra Klein, Editor-at Large and Co-founder of Vox Media says, “Lee Drutman is one of our most perceptive political thinkers, and this book is the type of fresh, clear-thinking we need to learn how to live with our age of partisan polarization, rather than simply to complain while it destroys us.” His most recent publications continue to discuss the problems of the modern two-party political system in the United States and the long-term implications of this system on democracy. 

Beyond writing, Drutman has often been a guest on news outlets and programs, such as Washington Journal on C-SPAN and Rising on The Hill TV, to discuss his publications and areas of his expertise. Drutman has also given talks at New America and at the American Enterprise Institute with Yuval Levin to discuss the modern two-party system in America and whether a multiparty system can restore America’s political sanity. Through hosting the ‘Politics in Question’ podcast, his books and articles, and speaking engagements, Lee Drutman seeks to address complicated questions about modern politics, and find ways that America’s political stability can be restored.

Weaving together history, democratic theory, and political science research, Drutman discusses the problems of the modern two-party political system in the United States and the long-term implications of this system on democracy.

• What is the Two Party Doom Loop
• How American politics became so toxic
• How the escalating two party conflict erodes democracy
• How America’s political stability and sanity can be restored

Two-Party System Is DESTROYING U.S., Winning TRUMPS Democracy

Available for viewing from The Hill

Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop

Available for viewing on The Realignment

Kevin R. Kosar, Lee Drutman & Timothy M. LaPira on Congress Overwhelmed

Available for viewing from the American Enterprise Institute

Lee Drutman is one of our most perceptive political thinkers, and [his] book is the type of fresh, clear-thinking we need to learn how to live with our age of partisan polarization, rather than simply to complain while it destroys us.

- Ezra Klein, Editor-at Large and Co-founder of Vox Media