Eric M. Patashnik Is America’s Grand Experiment With Democracy at an End? Q&A with MPA Director, Eric M. Patashnik and Harvard Business School Professor, Katherine M. Gehl Democracies are supposed to respond to all of their citizens, yet our American political system – as it exists today – is broken: Our political two-party duopoly caters to highly ideological party primary voters and special interests; erects nearly insurmountable barriers to new competition from independents or third parties; encourages extreme partisanship, rather than compromise; and fails to implement legislation to benefit society at large. So wrote Katherine M. Gehl, a business leader and political reformer, and the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School Michael E. Porter, in their essay, “Politics Industry Theory,” in the newly published book, Dynamics of American Democracy: Partisan Polarization, Political Competition, and Government Performance. The book is co-edited by professors affiliated with the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, Eric Patashnik, Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy and director of the MPA Program, and Wendy J. Schiller, Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science and chair of political science; and is published by University Press of Kansas.