Red versus blue, Republican versus Democrat, liberal versus conservative. Today’s politics are driven by intense partisan conflict, but things haven’t always been this way. In this episode of “Transition Lab,” we talk to Lee Drutman about how our two-party system and winner-take-all elections have inflamed our political divisions. Not to worry, though: He also tells us how we can reform our government to reorganize our political conversations and create a healthier, more productive democracy.  

Lee Drutman is a political scientist and prolific writer who covers a range of topics, from political history to voting reform to political psychology. Much of his work centers around the way that political systems and individual psychology interact with each other to create certain social and political outcomes. Currently, he’s a senior fellow at New America, co-host of the podcast “Politics in Question,” a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and the co-founder of two different electoral reform organizations. He’s also the author of two books, including “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America.”  

A complete transcript of the episode can be found here.