This special issue of The Forum focuses on the changing place of organized labor in American politics. Nick Salvatore begins with a historical overview of factors that led both to labor’s postwar rise and to its decline. In electoral politics, Fred Siegel considers how public-sector unions emerged as a key constituency of the Democratic Party, while Peter Francia documents the ongoing impact of organized labor in election campaigns. In legislative politics, Terry Moe argues that classic veto-points in the American system allow teachers unions to block major educational reform, while Martin West, Michael Henderson, and Paul Peterson see evidence of a classic iron triangle expressed in the widely divergent attitudes about reform between teachers and the public. With respect to social and economic change more generally, Janice Fine and Dan Tichenor chart the labor movement’s shifting position on immigration, while John Ahlquist considers how forces undermining private-sector unionism are inextricably linked to support for public-sector unions. In placing labor within the contemporary legal regime, Chris Rhomberg discusses the disappearance of the strike as a collective bargaining tool, while David Weil examines the erosion of workplace rights. Graham Wilson closes with a comparative perspective on whether the decline of unionism is any more severe in the US than Europe.

In remembrance of James Q. Wilson, Shep Melnick provides an overview of a great scholar’s work, while making an argument about the purpose of studying politics. Andrew Rudalevige reviews recent autobiographies by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. And Daniel DiSalvo reviews Terry Moe, Special Interest, about teachers unions and educational reform.