An A.D. White Professors-at-Large keynote event

Theda Skocpol (Harvard University; A..D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell) will present the public lecture, “Rising Threats to U.S. Democracy — Roots and Responses,” on Tuesday, April 9, at 4pm, Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall.

Open to all. A reception will follow in Klarman Atrium.

Abstract: Why is US democracy facing an existential crisis this year? While some focus on the persona and rhetoric of Donald Trump, or stress underlying institutional distortions and polarizing social divisions, Skocpol highlights and explains the recent turn of the Republican Party and its allies toward  minority authoritarian governance backed by threats and violence. Historical and cross-national comparisons pinpoint the most worrisome developments and necessary responses by pro-democratic forces.

Bio: Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University where she previously served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (2005-07) and Director of the Center for American Political Studies (2000-06). She is considered to be one of the most prolific, widely respected, and highly influential scholars in social sciences today by making key contributions to the study of comparative American politics particularly in respect to health care, civic engagement and inequality. Her scholarship in sociology has been historically informed and very influential in studies of the history of states, social welfare, and gender. She is also currently Director of the Scholars Strategy Network, which she co-founded in 2009.

She is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors including the Johan Skytte Prize for Political Science (2007), Guggenheim Fellowships and the. She has also been elected to membership in all three major U.S. interdisciplinary honor societies: The Academy of Arts and Sciences (1994), the American Philosophical Society (2006), and the National Academy of Sciences (2008). In addition, she has served as President of the American Political Science Association, and the Social Science History Association.

Skocpol visits the Cornell campus in Ithaca as an ADW-PAL April 8-12. She was elected as an ADW-PAL in 2015. Her appointment runs through 2024.