‘How Democracies Die’ Author to Speak at Dickinson College
Daniel Ziblatt. Photo by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer.
An Analysis of the American Government
by Megan Bell '19
Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt will discuss the current state of democracy in the United States using historical context in a lecture at Dickinson College. The talk, “How Democracies Die,” will take place Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter (ATS) Auditorium.
Ziblatt will look at the history of democracy, both in the U.S. and internationally, in order to analyze the current state of American government. Following the lecture, Dickinson Assistant Professor of Political Science David O’Connell will offer a counterargument to certain aspects of Ziblatt’s claims.
Ziblatt is the Eaton Professor of the Science of Government and a faculty associate at the Minda De Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. He is author of How Democracies Die (co-authored with Steven Levitsky), Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy and Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism. His primary research focuses on European politics, democratization and historical political economy.
O’Connell's research, which focuses primarily on the presidency and religion in politics, has been featured in Presidential Studies Quarterly, Politics and Religion, Political Science Quarterly and White House Studies. O’Connell is the author of God Wills It: Presidents and the Political Use of Religion. His expertise has appeared in media outlets including The Associated Press, CNBC, The Christian Science Monitor, The Hill and Spain’s El Pais.
The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of political science and international studies and the Churchill Fund. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.
Learn more
- The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues
- Department of Political Science
- Department of International Studies
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Published October 31, 2018