ABSTRACT
Robert Kagan’s model of adversarial legalism (AL) is one of the most important and provocative contributions to comparative sociolegal analysis developed over recent decades. Kagan’s framework not only powerfully captures the distinctive legalistic politics that mark contemporary U.S. political culture, but it helps to explain how this type of politics developed, the forces that sustain it, and the implications of its continued pull on American life and around the world. No contemporary scholar of law and politics can ignore the compelling logic of this fundamental analytical framework.
