Daniel Disalvo

Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science

Additional Departments/Affiliated Programs

Political Science

Areas of Expertise/Research

  • American Political Parties
  • Elections
  • Labor Unions
  • Public Policy
  • State Government

Building

North Academic Center

Office

4/136

Phone

212-650-5940

Daniel Disalvo

Profile

DANIEL DISALVO is professor and chair of political science in the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York–CUNY and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His scholarship focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy. He is the author of Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868–2010 (Oxford 2012) and Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences (Oxford 2015). His articles have appeared in Political Science Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, and American Political Thought among others. DiSalvo also writes frequently for popular publications, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly, National Affairs, City Journal, Los Angeles Times, and the New York Daily News. He was previously the co-editor of The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Policy HistoryHe has held visiting appointments at Princeton University's James Madison Program, the CUNY Graduate Center, and the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia). 

Education

Ph.D. Politics, University of Virginia. 2007.

Courses Taught

PSC 10100 United States Politics and Government 

PSC 21600 Political Parties and Interest Groups

PSC 22100 The Congress 

PSC 22200 The Presidency 

PSC 22400 U.S. Political Economy 

 

Publications

Books

Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).

Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868-2010 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

Building Coalitions, Making Policy: The Politics of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Presidencies (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012). Co-editor w/Martin Levin and Martin Shapiro.

Recent Articles and Book Chapters

"Police Unions, Race, and Trust in the Police," Political Science Quarterly (Summer 2023). w/Matt Nagler. 

"State Labor Laws and Government Responsiveness to Public Opinion, Political Research Quarterly 57(3) (2023), 411-420. w/Patrick Flavin and Michael Hartney  

"Party Factions in American Politics," National AffairsNo. 52 (Summer 2022). 

"Interest Groups, Local Politics, and Police Unions," Interest Groups & Advocacy (January 2022). 

"The Trouble with Police Unions," National Affairs No. 45 (Fall 2020).

"Paradigm Shift in Municipal Credit Analysis," Municipal Finance Journal No. 3 (Fall 2020).

"Teachers Unions in the Post-Janus World," Education Next Vol. 20, No. 4 (Fall 2020).

"The Future of Public Employee Unions," National Affairs No. 43 (Spring 2020).

"Edward C. Banfield and the Defense of Political Parties," American Political Thought 9, no. 1 (Winter 2020): 85-114. 

"Party Politics and National Policy Post-World War II," Oxford Handbook of American Political and Policy History, eds. Donald Critchlow and Paula Baker. Mew York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2020.

“Unions, Parties, and the Politics of State Government Legacy Costs,” Policy Studies Journal Vol. 46, No. 3 (2018). w/Jeff Kucik 

“Vested Interests and Policy-Focused Analysis: Medicaid Politics in New York,” Political Science Quarterly Vol. 33, No. 2 (2018).

“Edward Banfield Revisited,” National Affairs 32 (Summer 2017).

“The Multifaceted Oeuvre of Raymond Aron,” Society Vol. 53, Issue 1 (April 2016). 

Brief Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners,” United States Supreme Court, Friedrichs et al. v. California Teachers Association, No. 14-915, September 11, 2015. w/Thomas R. McCarthy. ​

“The New American Spoils System,” The American Interest: Policy, Politics, & Culture (March/April 2015). 

“Cómo los Sindicatos de Empleados Públics Debilitan al Gobierno: El Caso de las Escuelas de la Ciudad de Neuva York,” En Letra No. 3, Febrero 2015. 

“Factions and Intra-Party Conflict,” in Encyclopedia of American Political Culture, ed. Michael Shally-Jensen. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. 2015.

"The Nature of Party Organizations," in Guide to Political Parties, ed. Marjorie Hershey. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2014. 

"The Politics of Studying Politics: Political Science Since the 1960s," Society 50(2) (2013).

"Liberty and Rights in American and British Conservatism," in Reflections on Conservative Politics in the United Kingdom and the United States: Still Soul Mates?, ed. Mark McNaught. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2012. w/ James W. Ceaser.

"Government Unions in America," in The New Leviathan: The State Versus the Individual in the 21st Century, ed. Roger Kimball. New York, NY: Encounter Books. 2012.

"How to Approach Public Sector Unions," in A Time for Governing, eds. Yuval Levin and Meghan Clyne. New York, NY: Encounter Books. 2012.

"Legislative Coalitions, Polarization, and the U.S. Senate," The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics 9(4) (January 2012). 

"Neo-liberalism," in Oxford University Encyclopedia of American Political, Policy, and Legal History, eds. Paul Boyer, Donald Critchlow, and Philip R. VanderMeer. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2012.  

"The Trouble with Public Sector Unions," National Affairs 1(5) (Fall 2010).

"The Politics of a Party Faction: The Liberal-Labor Alliance in the Democratic Party, 1948-1972," The Journal of Policy History (Summer 2010).

"Obama, un chef de parti," La Revue Internationale et Stratégique 76 (hiver 2009/2010).

"Party Factions in Congress," Congress & the Presidency: A Journal of Capital Studies 36:1 (Spring 2009), 27-57.

"Four Traps: Overcoming Barriers to Effective Immigration Reform," The American Interest: Policy, Politics, & Culture Vol. IV, No. 4 (March-April 2009).

"Faith in the Primaries,"Perspectives on Political Science Vol. 38, No. 2 (Spring 2009). w/Jerome Copulsky. 

"The Magnitude of the 2008 Democratic Victory: By the Numbers," in Understanding the Presidency, 6th edition, eds. James P. Pfiffner and Roger H. Davidson (Pearson/Logman, 2010), w/ James W. Ceaser.