Mapping the American Left

Abstract

The American political system is experiencing a crisis of hegemony. The moderate, bipartisan center that had been the mythical linchpin of American political identity during the "long Cold War” is facing the possibility of a terminal decline. Donald Trump’s election is indicative of how this crisis has emboldened the American right. At the same time, however, the organized left is also resurgent in the United States. This article is a situated and provisional analysis of the American left resurgence midway through Trump presidency. The American left currently finds itself on unfamiliar political terrain. It is more energized today than it has been in decades. And yet, this rebirth comes with uncertainty. Four issues speak to the promise and challenges of the American left: the meaning and content of "democratic socialism,” the left’s relationship to the Democratic Party, bridging the divide between class and identity along which the left has fragmented since the 1980s, and the tension of organizing via both social movements and elections. These issues are likely to shape its organizing successes in the near future.