Political mega-donors

 

On August 30, Professor Theda Skocpol spoke on the topic of political mega-donors. During her discussion, Dr. Skocpol outlined the changes in political parties since the early 2000s. She noted that the political atmosphere has shifted on the right, and that many resources are controlled by the integrated political network alongside the free-market positions with carrot and stick incentives.

She identified a Republican realignment throughout the last decade, embodied by a shift from popular preferences of the constituents to other outside forces. She identified these elite forces as being the political mega donors, that is wealthy Americans, active on both sides of the political spectrum. Specifically, she discussed the Koch Network on the right and the Democracy Alliance on the left.

She described an emergence of donor consortia, which are organized groups of billionaires who meet regularly and influence political organizations through think tanks, constituency mobilization groups, and political parties. She argues that these powerful groups set the agendas for legislation. Ultimately, she suggested that the problem of political mega-donors is that their power in shaping the political realm has an unprecedented ability at shifting the power players in politics.

Dr. Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University.