Jared Sonnicksen – författare

Tensions of American Federal Democracy uses an original analytical framework combined with comparative perspectives – including those of other modern federal democracies – to explore the jigsaw puzzle that is the state of American federal democracy.The USA has a complex political system prone to "divided government", which has become highly polarized in recent years. The reasons for this extend further and deeper than party diversification or rising populism. This book provides an original contribution encompassing the US polity and its overall development. The author explores how the US constitution has predisposed branches and levels of government to multiple forms of separation of power and constituency; and how developments in democratic and federal government over time have fostered more competition, diffusion, and decoupling, despite earlier trends to more cross-branch and cross-level cooperation. The book thus addresses a multifaceted inquiry, interrogating and conceptualizing the connections between institutions, ideas, and political development, while exploring the interlinkage between the institutional parameters of multidimensional division of powers, constitutional political ideas and their contestation, and the limitation of the state in the US federal democratic system.This book will appeal to students and scholars of political science, American government and constitutional politics, federalism, comparative politics, and political theory.

Tensions of American Federal Democracy uses an original analytical framework combined with comparative perspectives – including those of other modern federal democracies – to explore the jigsaw puzzle that is the state of American federal democracy.The USA has a complex political system prone to "divided government", which has become highly polarized in recent years. The reasons for this extend further and deeper than party diversification or rising populism. This book provides an original contribution encompassing the US polity and its overall development. The author explores how the US constitution has predisposed branches and levels of government to multiple forms of separation of power and constituency; and how developments in democratic and federal government over time have fostered more competition, diffusion, and decoupling, despite earlier trends to more cross-branch and cross-level cooperation. The book thus addresses a multifaceted inquiry, interrogating and conceptualizing the connections between institutions, ideas, and political development, while exploring the interlinkage between the institutional parameters of multidimensional division of powers, constitutional political ideas and their contestation, and the limitation of the state in the US federal democratic system.This book will appeal to students and scholars of political science, American government and constitutional politics, federalism, comparative politics, and political theory.

This volume examines the state of American democracy during the “Donald Trump Era,” spanning 2015 to 2025.From Trump’s first campaign to his return to the White House, this decade has shaken America’s political foundations. Edited by leading scholars, the volume brings together contributors from political science, law, sociology, media studies, and history to place these upheavals in sharp historical perspective. Together, they draw bold comparisons to past democratic crises such as the Civil War, Watergate, and the New Deal, while offering fresh interdisciplinary insights into polarization, populism, and democratic resilience. Case studies address presidential powers, the judiciary, elections, and the role of media and misinformation, offering a clear framework for assessing whether these shifts reflect routine democratic contestation or deeper signs of backsliding.Testing Democracy in the Donald Trump Era offers scholars a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of a pivotal phase in U.S. politics, while giving students clear, accessible explanations of complex issues. It serves as a valuable resource for courses on government, democracy, and political change, with its timely focus on Trump’s second presidency, historical comparisons, and engagement with debates on democratic resilience.

Scholars widely agree that a federal system cannot work effectively without democracy. As a result of the division or sharing of powers between levels of government, there remains considerable uncertainty about how rules or patterns of politics between the executive and legislative branches interact. Combining theoretical analyses and selected case studies, Federal Democracies at Work contributes to our understanding of the complex relations between federalism and democracy.Throughout the volume, contributing authors elaborate and apply an innovative analytical framework to provide greater clarity on the complex relations between federalism and democracy. As a whole, the volume explores how different institutional configurations of federal democracies alleviate or intensify inherent tensions; how actors grapple and cope with the challenge of these complexities; and how structures evolve as a result of rising conflicts and institutional reforms or adjustments. In doing so, Federal Democracies at Work advances research on comparative federalism and works toward a better understanding of how these compound systems work.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse and multi-faceted research on governance in multilevel systems.