Shep Melnick on Adversarial Legalism (Abridged)

This is an abridged, 30-minute excerpt of the interview with Boston College professor of political science Shep Melnick posted yesterday for paid subscribers only. It is the second episode of the subscriber-only Syllabus series. Become a paid subscriber to hear the rest of this episode and maintain access to a growing archive of independent study sessions.

This is the second episode in the Syllabus series, wherein I do a deep dive into a subject with an academic expert.

R. Shep Melnick, Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Professor of American Politics at Boston College and co-chair of the Harvard Program on Constitutional Government, has put together a syllabus of readings that we will working through on the subscriber-only Syllabus podcast series. Every 3-4 weeks we’ll do another reading together.

This episode we discuss Robert A. Kagan’s essay “Adversarial Legalism and American Government.”

Other readings mentioned in this episode:

Lloyd A. Free and Hadley Cantril’s 1967 book The Political Beliefs of Americans: A Study of Public Opinion

Jonathan Rauch’s Jul/Aug 2016 article in The Atlantic, "How American Politics Went Insane" 

Daniel P. Moynihan's Iron Law of Emulation theory in "Imperial Government." Commentary, Jun. 1978

Jamal Greene’s 2021 book How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights Is Tearing America Apart

Next episode we will be reading Hugh Heclo, “The Sixties’ False Dawn: Awakenings, Movements, and Postmodern Policymaking,” Journal of Policy History, vol. 8, 1996.

A full transcript of our conversation is available for paid subscribers. Listen on Substack or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts: Apple | Spotify | Google | RSS.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wesleyyang.substack.com/subscribe