The 2020 Election and What Not: Rifts in US Politics and Prospects for the Democratic Party

Jadaliyya Co-Editor and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University Bassam Haddad interviewed Elisabeth Anker, an Associate Professor of American Studies and Political Science at George Washington University about the 2020 US Presidential Election. The series “The 2020 Election and What Not” is part of the Schar Conversations Podcast, which can be accessed here.

In this conversation, Elisabeth Anker addresses the apparent rift in US politics and the the potentially precarious consequences in light of the Presidential election. She also examines why President Trump continues to draw wide public support despite his performance on a number of key issues. Anker also provides insight into the status of the democratic party helmed by Biden and whether his election opens or closes space for progressive politics and leftists.

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Featuring

Elisabeth Anker is an Associate Professor of American Studies and Political Science at George Washington University, where she researches political theory and American political culture. She is the author of Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Politics of Freedom (Duke, 2014) and is finishing two books: Ugly Freedoms and The Wrath of Sovereignty. She is co-editor of Theory & Event, and a frequent contributor on international television and radio news.

Bassam Haddad is Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of the forthcoming book, A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Forthcoming, Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine. Bassam is Co-Project Manager for the Salon Syria Project and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book tittled Understanding The Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).