The election of an African American as President of the United States has raised questions as to the continued relevance and even constitutionality of various provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Barack Obama’s apparent success among whites in 2008 has caused some to question the...

This essay recounts the history of election dysfunction in the United States over the past ten years with an eye toward lessons it can teach the rest of the world. The U.S. experience has been plagued by three deeply rooted problems, each of which exists in other countries, but which, in...