News

Democrats are losing to Republicans at the state level, and badly. Here's why.

August 03, 2016

Skocpol and Hertel-Fernandez explain the inner-workings of complex Republican state-level political networks that have vastly out-organized liberals at lower level of the American political system.

Inside the donor network: Studies unravel the towering influence money has over politics — on the right and left

June 18, 2016

Sean McElwee and Roberta Barnett writing for Salon discuss how donor groups grow and work strategically to achieve political objectives, using Hertel-Fernandez and Skocpol's research.

After Trump: how authoritarian voters will change American politics

April 28, 2016

Amanda Taub writing for Vox.com discusses "the new era of American authoritarian politics," using Skocpol and Hertel-Fernandez's research to detail unprecedented shifts occurring in the modern political system.

How the Right Trounced Liberals in the States

January 31, 2016

Conservatives have mastered the art of cross-state policy advocacy, while liberal efforts have fizzled. Skocpol and Hertel-Fernandez trace historical changes in conservative organizational strategy and argue that liberal organizations have failed to keep...

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New Koch

January 25, 2016

The billionaire brothers are championing criminal-justice reform. Has their formula changed? Jane Mayer uses Skocpol and Hertel-Fernandez's research to discuss how the Koch brothers "have established centralized command of a 'nationally-federated, full...

Why Charles Koch says "it's possible" he could support Hillary Clinton

April 25, 2016

Lee Drutman uses Skocpol and Hertel-Fernandez's research on the success of the Koch network of political organizations at the state level in recent years in a piece for Vox.com.

How to defeat the Koch brothers: Here’s what it could take to end their right-wing stranglehold

January 31, 2016

The billionaires have created a political machine that more and more resembles its own political party. What can be done? Sean McElwee of Salon engages Theda Skocpol and Alex Hertel-Fernandez's research to think about solving this issue challenging...

Who Owns the GOP?

February 03, 2016

Theda Skocpol traces the emergence of conservative groups in her review of Jane Mayer's Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right published in Dissent in February.

How conservative megadonors built a shadow GOP that weakened the official party

April 14, 2016

Jeff Stein of Vox.com uses Theda Skocpol's work to show how the megadonors such as the Koch brothers weakened the Republican Party with their own political infrastructure.

Five Myths About the Koch Brothers — And Why It Matters To Set Them Straight

March 10, 2016

Skocpol and Hertel-Fernandez's research deconstructs commonly held misperceptions about the Koch brothers and their political networks on billmoyers.com.

Trump will win or lose - Either way, the Koch network will still shape the Republican Party

February 29, 2016

Alex Hertel-Fernandez and Theda Skocpol trace the evolution of the Koch political network in an article by Henry Farrell of the Washington Post.