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Mischiefs of Faction

Mischiefs of Faction

This post is part of Mischiefs of Faction, an independent political science blog featuring reflections on the party system.

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Brazil’s Supreme Court pushed back against an attempt to cancel participatory councils

That’s good news for Brazilian democracy.

By Carla Bezerra and Lindsay Mayka

Mischiefs of Faction, now on Vox

By Julia Azari, Seth Masket, and 6 more

Six political scientists react to the first Democratic primary debates

By Seth Masket, Julia Azari, and 4 more

Technology and transparency: the path to a modern Congress?

By Richard Skinner

Brazil’s Bolsonaro took a page from US politics by dangling the possibility of an evangelical Supreme Court Justice

By Amy Erica Smith

What’s motivating the DNC’s debate rules

By Seth Masket

Why everyone runs for president these days

By Rachel Bitecofer

Is Pete Buttigieg the next Jimmy Carter?

By Julia Azari

How the DNC can reduce the number of presidential candidates

By Gregory Koger

Should we consider “electability” when evaluating candidates?

By Seth Masket and Hans Noel

Trump might make us miss Watergate

By Richard Skinner

Venezuela’s uprising shows the potential dangers of a civilian-military alliance

By Amy Erica Smith

Biden’s presidential announcement strategy was risky

By Julia Azari

Evangelicals are now the key constituency in the Republican Party. They are reaping the benefits.

By Marty Cohen

The scientific maneuver Mueller used that implicates the president

By Jennifer Victor

Who wants to pay taxes?

By Michael Touchton and Brian Wampler

What is polarizing legislatures? Probably not what you think.

By Seth Masket

The Constitution’s “natural-born” defect

By Richard Skinner

The Constitution doesn’t say enough about limiting executive power

By Julia Azari

The Senate is a much bigger problem than the Electoral College

By Jonathan M. Ladd

How powerful is the US president?

By Zachary Elkins

Changing the Constitution without amending it: the National Popular Vote story

By Seth Masket

Which parts of the US Constitution have aged least well?

By Jennifer Victor

What makes Wisconsin swing?

By Michael W. Wagner, Jiyoun Suk, Dhavan V. Shah, Lewis A. Friedland, Jordan Foley, Ceri Hughes Josephine Lukito, Katherine J. Cramer, Chris Wells

The next Democratic president will need to do more than reject Trump

By Julia Azari

An actor declared himself president of Brazil. It’s exposed some real divides within the country’s left.

By Ryan Lloyd

Republicans don’t like the National Science Foundation, and there’s a perfectly good reason for it

By William Bianco

What Hickenlooper brings to the table

By Seth Masket

Will evangelical legislators go along with the rightist agenda of Brazil’s Bolsonaro?

By Amy Erica Smith

What does authoritarianism have to do with Venezuela’s food fight? Everything.

By Amy Erica Smith

Why politicians rarely resign

By Richard Skinner

2019 has been Trump’s most disjunctive year yet. And it’s only February.

By Julia Azari

What LBJ can teach new Congress members about gaining power in the House

By Marian Currinder

Brazil’s Bolsonaro moves to expand gun rights

By Ryan Lloyd and Amy Erica Smith

Trump’s shutdown tactics borrow from the Freedom Caucus

By Matthew Green

Congress finally stands up for itself

By Richard Skinner

The 2020 invisible primary in light of 2016

By Seth Masket

Ballots and bullets: what we learned in 2018

By Julia Azari

Democratic activists haven’t decided on a 2020 candidate

By Seth Masket

Death of a statesman: George H.W. Bush’s legacy

By Julia Azari

Pelosi won her party’s vote to be speaker. But can she win the vote on the House floor?

By Matthew Green and Douglas Harris

Democrats in 2020 don’t have the Republican safety margin

By Seth Masket