The Hidden Costs of Political Alliances (with Janet Bufton)

Every political alliance asks its members to set some disagreements aside, but what happens to our ideas when we stop raising them? Host Aaron Ross Powell talks with Janet Bufton, a Contributing Fellow at Liberalism.org and co-founder of the Institute for Liberal Studies, about her article "Tribes, Coalitions, Parties." They discuss what Ronald Coase's theory of the firm reveals about why people organize politically, how loose coalitions, parties, and movements like the civil rights movement differ in what they gain and give up, and why liberals should keep arguing with the allies they need.

Further Reading

• Tribes, Coalitions, Parties — Janet Bufton, Liberalism.org

• A Liberalism of Principle, Not Program — Janet Bufton, Liberalism.org

• The Nature of the Firm — Ronald Coase, Economica

• The Liberal Party Idea and American Ideology — Jacob T. Levy, in The New Conservatism and Its Critics (Bloomsbury)

More from Liberalism.org

• Is It Really Socialism? — Matt Zwolinski