US politics in a post-crisis era

The Great Recession unleashed a wave of populist sentiment in the US that reverberated through the party system. Insurgent political forces were able to make use of the highly decentralized and open means of candidate selection to advance. Non-mainstream candidates also took advantage of new sources of funding, including donor consortia whose resources sometimes rival those of the parties themselves. The effect has been to exacerbate the polarization of the American electorate that has developed over the last three decades.