Democracy vs. the Constitution

In this episode of THINK BACK, I speak with the political scientist Stephen Skowronek about his book, The Adaptability Paradox: Political Inclusion and Constitutional Resilience. The book traces large-scale patterns across American history to understand how political change actually happens. As American democracy has expanded to include more people, Skowronek contends, the constitutional system has been stretched to its limits.

We now face a profound contradiction between democracy and the Constitution—a conflict present since the founding but increasingly acute. Skowronek outlines why partisan diagnoses fall short and why the country may be approaching a choice between abandoning constitutional forms to preserve democracy or risking the collapse of both.

The episode looks beyond day-to-day headlines to consider the structural forces shaping American politics and the challenges ahead. As we all struggle to make sense of our unsettled moment, Skowronek’s work offers a compelling framework for understanding, even as he rejects many of the usual prescriptions for how the country’s perilous political situation might be successfully addressed.

* Stephen Skowronek, The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton (1993)

* Richard Kreitner, “What Time Is It? Here’s What the 2016 Election Tells Us About Obama, Trump, and What Comes Next,” The Nation (Nov. 22, 2016)

* — , “What History Tells Us About Trump’s Implosion and Biden’s Opportunity,” The Nation (Oct. 12, 2020)

Music by Akiko Sasaki (“The Union,” by Louis Moreau Gottschalk) and Zachary Solomon