Democracy is messy, says Josiah Ober in his new book. “Democratic citizens must live among and negotiate the terms of their common lives with others who hold diverging interests. That means deliberating with people with whom we disagree.”
Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law —
On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, four Stanford scholars and leading experts in national security, terrorism and contemporary conflict – Condoleezza Rice, Amy Zegart, Martha Crenshaw and Lisa Blaydes – reflect on how their teaching of the terrorist attacks has evolved.
Scholars hope that President Joe Biden’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will lay the groundwork for negotiations in the near future, particularly around nuclear weapons.
Through the Institute of International Education, Stanford has hosted displaced scholars who have had to escape conflict or flee persecution because of their research, race or creed.
Deliberative democracy – informed and moderated discussion that transcends partisan identities – can lead to a depolarized and more democratic society, according to Stanford research.
According to Scot Marciel, former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar and Stanford visiting scholar, building a democracy is a difficult process that can be upended, particularly when the military is politicized and has its own agenda.
In the first of a two-part Q&A, Stanford political scientist Kathryn Stoner discusses how Biden’s foreign policy in Russia is a departure from the Trump administration.
Stanford scholars reflect on the sweeping number of executive actions President Biden ordered on his first day in office, including pledges to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration, the climate crisis and racial injustice.
Former U.S. ambassador to Russia and Stanford political scientist Michael McFaul recommends that the incoming Biden administration “go big” in its efforts to reaffirm core democratic values – including passing comprehensive, structural reforms.
John Manley was a dedicated scholar of American government and political and class interest, as well as a committed advocate of academic independence and integrity.
Lucius J. Barker, a Stanford University political scientist who specialized in constitutional law, civil liberties and African American politics and served as president of the American Political Science Association, has died.
In a new white paper, Stanford scholars including Anna Grzymala-Busse say that the failure of mainstream political parties to address a fast-spreading ideology intent on sowing government mistrust and excluding marginalized people is putting democracies around the world at risk.
The geographic divide, which pits Democratic voters living mostly in cities against Republicans in exurban and rural areas, has an impact on representation and policymaking, Stanford scholar Jonathan Rodden says.
Evolving drone technology will enable countries to make low-cost but highly credible threats against states and groups that do not possess drones, Stanford political scientist Amy Zegart found in new research.
While U.S. federal entitlement program expenditures are intricately woven into the fabric of American society, they have grown into a costly burden with a reach far beyond what was originally intended, Stanford scholar John Cogan says.
Alison McQueen’s research shows that apocalyptic rhetoric can make wars, natural disasters and economic collapse easier to understand. Although it can rouse people to action, such rhetoric also carries great peril.
Political scientist Anna Grzymala-Busse finds that authoritarians face a choice in the face of change: try to cling to power, exit governing or reinvent themselves as democrats. It’s those who reinvent themselves as newly minted democrats who fare the worst in the long run.
