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And one consequence of this, we argue, is that the hollowed-out parties in the global north hemorrhaging voters to far right authoritarians might learn something from parties of the global south that have never taken the stability of their democratic systems for granted.

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There are still lots of dangers here, and in the paper we place additional conditions on leaders' behavior to ensure they actually serve democratic ends. Still, when conditions are dire, and countervailing power is in short supply, we should broaden the range of tactics we consider

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Another case is when authoritarian incumbents control the media system in which programmatic appeals are made. Here too, clientelism may be permissible to get a foothold in an inhospitable environment. The key is shifting terms of competition towards distributive issues, then scaling up who benefits

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One case is when clientelism is culturally embedded, meaning parties that don't play the patronage / distribution game can't gain a foothold. We argue democracy-seeking parties can permissibly play the game to get traction, as long as they transition voters gradually towards a programmatic vision

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These can, in theory, be provided by "programmatic" parties and other non-particularistic organizations - classically, labor unions. But sometimes there are serious obstacles to building countervailing power through these means. And in those cases, machine politics may be a permissible alternative.

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As Udit and I have both argued elsewhere, what's needed is more countervailing power. And building on waves of recent scholarship, we argue that two things are key to generating it: socially and structurally dense networks, and collective identities grounded in material interests.

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 18h

For democracy to function well, there must be some balance in the collective power exercised different groups. Huge imbalances in this respect are a key reason for the democratic deficits we observe today: some groups have enormous background advantages and therefore dominate the political system.

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This claim builds on the sizable subgenre of scholarship on clientelism, often based on ethnographic fieldwork, which observes that certain collective practices seem to have redeeming democratic qualities. We formalize that intuition and scrutinize it using the tools of normative democratic theory.

Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 18h

In a word: yes, they do. We accept the consensus that particularistic exchanges violate democratic ideals and may initiate dangerous dynamics. Yet in certain non-ideal contexts, limited engagement in "collective" forms of clientelism may be the best way for parties to pursue democratic ends.

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 18h

In the era of hollowed-out parties trading culture war barbs on cable and social media while the world burns, @uditbhatia.bsky.social and I wondered if robust party machines built via patronage and clientelism might have something to teach us. Our answer is now published in @apsrjournal.bsky.social

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The deadline for best consideration is October 14 (next Wednesday), though applications will continue to be accepted after that.

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Finally, it's worth saying that The USC Political Science Department is a great place to work! Collegial, growing, and theory-friendly, with excellent leadership. Come join us!

We believe a wide range of exciting projects in political theory fit this general description, and encourage anyone with genuine interests in related areas to apply, as long as they can make a persuasive case for meeting these criteria.

The job description calls for "scholars of civil society and public discourse in the American tradition, whose research considers the norms, practices, and institutions that sustain a flourishing and pluralistic civil society; as well as the responsibilities of citizens within it."

Second, the CACLPD at USC has a similar substantive focus as other recently founded civic centers, but unlike many others (e.g., UNC, Florida, Ohio State), all faculty will be hired into existing departments, become full members of those departments, and be held to their standards for tenure, etc...

The call went up on APSA eJobs last week, so I suspect most folks on the theory market will have already seen it, but I thought it was worth sharing a few extra details here. First off, I am on the search committee for this position, and am happy to answer questions (as far as I am able).

Assistant Professor-Theories of Civil Society and Civil Discourse

Political theory / political science folks: spread the word! My department is hiring a junior political theorist for a tenure-track position, in conjunction with the newly-founded Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse (CACLPD). uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/213...

uscjobs.sc.edu

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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Thrilled that we have @hahrie.bsky.social visiting our campus next week! Thanks to my colleague, @samuel-bagg.bsky.social & the USC Humanities Collaborative for bringing her to campus & to All Good Books for their involvement with her visit as well. Really looking forward to this!

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Ezra Klein’s recent interview on this is good and paints anti data center activists in a plausibly more sympathetic light based on his guest’s actual reporting

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Craig Harrington @craigipedia.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

As @brianbeutler.bsky.social argued, the next Democratic president should send bulldozers to the Supreme Court and tell them they have 15 minutes to decide if the Unitary Executive Theory is real.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Friends don't let friends give assignments that are AI-cheatable

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Strongly suggest reading some New Deal / labor history. Popular front proportions weren’t too different then but without the radicals in the coalition (including bona fide communists as agitators in key labor unions) there wouldn’t be a New Deal.

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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

We're near the ten-year anniversary of this interview, which was viewed as wildly controversial at the time. It led to hit pieces on me from liberal outlets like The New Republic as well as death threats. Now it's seen as conventional wisdom -- but it always was!

Sarah Kendzior making obvious points about authoritarian kleptocracy in the US under Trump on MSNBC in Nov 2016

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 19/07/2026

"I had only one reaction to the panelists and their cheerleaders: these gutless losers will never win. If they have their way, we will, at best, remain in this crisis for a generation longer, and at worst we will simply lose the war." www.liberalcurrents.com/tit-for-tat-...

liberalcurrents.com

Tit For Tat Does Not Work If You Do Not Retaliate Against Defectors

Thoughts from ISMA's Liberalism in the 21st Century conference.

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Luke Diaz @lukediaz.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

We need Broken Windows theory but just for white collar crime.

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

My response ("What policy responsiveness conceals") argues that the admirably cautious note of optimism struck by @cbwlezien.bsky.social is justified by the quantitative studies of responsiveness he surveys, but can't be sustained once we consider forms of capture that are harder to quantify

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Thanks to @cbwlezien.bsky.social for writing this comprehensive, balanced, well-organized survey of contemporary research on policy responsiveness, and to Josh Ryan for inviting me to write a response, which you can find here: doi.org/10.1017/S014...

doi.org

What policy responsiveness conceals | Journal of Public Policy | Cambridge Core

What policy responsiveness conceals - Volume 46 Issue 2

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Apparently I got tenure three weeks ago, but nobody bothered to tell me until today. Anyway, the point is: I have tenure! I am keenly aware of what a rare privilege that is these days. I'll do my best to use it well.

Note from university of south carolina stating that I have received tenure and promotion to associate professor

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Calling all early career scholars with an interest in democratic theory, public policy, corruption, etc...! Initial deadline this week, for aspirational start date this Fall, but both are flexible given the tight turnaround.

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Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Come work on an exciting new project with me -- soft deadline next Friday!

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Of interest to folks in #poltheory and adjacent scholarly communities, especially #LPE (👀@lpeproject.bsky.social, @lpeblog.bsky.social, @a-lpe.bsky.social). Tight turnaround for due date and start date but those are aspirational: late applications will likely be read and start date is negotiable!

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Phase two is to develop materials geared more towards specific fields and policy areas. Over the course of the two years of the postdoc, the successful candidate would be expected to help develop both phases of the project, in specific ways described on the call for applications.

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Phase one of the project involves collecting as many of these models as possible, organizing / categorizing them, finding / describing many divergent use cases, and creating a comprehensive yet accessible online database for use by scholars and institutional designers in a wide variety of contexts.

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The motivating example is that of sortition: an institutional technology used in a wide variety of ways by different historical polities, but largely neglected by modern polities until very recently.

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And although the "anti-corruption" frame is designed to help us uncover neglected and underutilized models, it is really just another way of getting at what is usually intended by calls to "democratize" these institutions.

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This includes state institutions such as the bureaucracy, but also organizations like political parties, labor unions, corporations, religious institutions, universities, and so on.

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Basic idea is to build a library of institutional models, drawn from a wide range of historical, cultural, geographic, disciplinary, & organizational contexts, which serve goal of "anti-corruption" in a very broad sense: i.e., helping keep institutions tethered to purposes they are meant to serve.

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Experts at Yale Explore New Tools to Tackle Corruption | Institution for Social and Policy Studies

The project officially launched at a conference last year, and is described briefly on the application itself. See writeup of the conference here: isps.yale.edu/news/blog/20...

isps.yale.edu

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The project is funded and hosted by @ispsyale.bsky.social but located physically in my department, @uofscpolisci.bsky.social, so the successful candidate would need to relocate to Columbia, SC. Again, start date *is* negotiable, so don't let that deter you.

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