American Political Development in the Era of Black Lives Matter

This Dialogues discussion explores the ways that the historical-institutional approaches of American Political Development can be useful for analyzing the ideological origins and contemporary politics of Black Lives Matter. By focusing on the evolution and impact of ideas and institutions, and the shifting relationship between the state, polity, and policy, American Political Development scholars have been crucial voices in political science working to demonstrate the intractable influence of race on the creation, maintenance, and evolution of political orders. American Political Development is, therefore, a useful lens through which to explore the era of Black Lives Matter, which is characterized by grassroots challenges to the proliferation of the American carceral state, the prison-industrial complex, the militarization of the police, and the ways that public goods are unequally distributed along racial lines. The papers presented in this Dialogues collection explore the impact of Black Lives Matter, particularly in terms of the historical processes and patterns of race politics that can contribute to our understandings of the intellectual history, contemporary politics, and future manifestations of Black Lives Matter.