Aziz Huq

Politics as usual in the US has given way to winner-take-all politics, where federal power is weaponized to impose highly conflictual preferences across the national territory, fueling resentment, polarization, and fragmentation at the regional and state levels.

How did America get itself into this political fix? And what steps can be taken to tame the divisions and rancor that are roiling its politics? The roundtable that discussed these questions featured Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times, Professor Aziz Huq of the University of Chicago, Professor Suzanne Mettler of Cornell University.

The roundtable was chaired by Professor Larry Kramer, the president and vice chancellor of LSE.

Good evening.

Senior Professor of American Institutions at Cornell, where her work examines American political developments, public policy, democracy, inequality, and citizenship.

Her most recent book, which you'll see reflected in her presentation, co-authored with Trevor Brown, is Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy.

Following Suzanne, we'll hear from Aziz Huq, the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, and a leading scholar of US and comparative constitutional law with particular interest on democratic backsliding.

Before entering academia, he worked at the Brennan Center for Justice and clerked for US Supreme Court, uh, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.