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Events • December 1, 2021 

# *The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy*

Political polarization and dysfunction are more than just the byproducts of a bad national mood. They emerge in large part from the legal and institutional machinery of politics and elections, shaped over the years by those on both sides of the ideological divide. America has repeatedly managed to escape earlier periods of factional antipathy, insider domination, and gridlock through its openness to a practice both simple and powerful: political innovation.

It’s time for a renewed era of political innovation, argues business leader Katherine Gehl, author (with famed business strategist Michael Porter) of *The Politics Industry*. At present, an entrenched party system channels most political energies into formulaic and expensive contests; in particular, primary elections, once seen as a great hope for reform, are often dominated by special interests and sharply ideological voters. Shaking things up with new ways of balloting—such as final‐​five voting, which can combine cross‐​party appeal with principles of ranked‐​choice voting—can help break the duopoly that presently stifles political competition. Join us for what is sure to be a wide‐​ranging discussion of the promises and pitfalls of election reform.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![Katherine Gehl cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-11/katherine-gehl-cropped.jpg?itok=m0ZIkkV_) 

##### Katherine M. Gehl 

Founder, Institute for Political Innovation

[ 

](https://twitter.com/katherinegehl) 

![Elaine Karmarck cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-11/elaine-karmack-cropped.jpg?itok=d4vh6Cix) 

##### Elaine Kamarck 

Senior Fellow in Governance Studies and Founding Director, Center for Effective Public Management, Brookings Institution

[ 

](https://twitter.com/EKamarck) 

[![Andy Craig new profile pic cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-10/andy-craig-crop.jpg?itok=wNxZeT9h)](/people/andy-craig) 

##### [Andy Craig](/people/andy-craig)

Former Adjunct Scholar

[ 

](https://twitter.com/andrewrcraig) [ 

](mailto:andy@andycraig.org) 

[![Walter Olson](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Walter%20Olson.jpg?itok=yhYxyT_7)](/people/walter-olson) 

##### [Walter Olson](/people/walter-olson)

Senior Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](mailto:wolson@cato.org)