What Moved AOC? A History of Carrots and Sticks

by J. Kraush and Mike V.

When AOC pledged to oppose all military aid to Israel, every DSA caucus rushed to claim credit. But in their latest work, J. Kraush and Mike V. argue that we're asking the wrong question. The issue isn't who moved her, but how she was moved. Drawing on the histories of AOC, Jamaal Bowman, and Chi Ossé, they revisit DSA's long-running debate over carrots and sticks, and ask a harder question of those who favor discipline: when we make demands of electeds, do they have any reason to believe we'll follow through?