Professor Sean Theriault from the Department of Government at The University of Texas at Austin presented his current research project at our Atlantic Forum on July 11.

In his project, he identifies the reasons for gridlock in the U.S. Senate by looking into the ideologies and decisions of every senator in this and previous voting cycles. According to Prof. Theriault, senators can be labeled Problem Creators or Problem Solvers, in each case depending on the current majority situation in Congress, voting behavior and individual agendas. He illustrated his talk with various examples from both political parties, discussed the problematic aspect of introducing amendments to slow down the legislative process and supplied the listeners with insightful research data. Theriault concluded that while polarization is an issue, it is partisan/political warfare that truly challenges a functioning Senate and bipartisanship and that goes beyond mere differences in ideology.

Our thanks go to our cooperation partner TU Kaiserslautern for the well-attended event and the successful completion of our Atlantic Forum for the summer term as well as to our outstanding speaker.