What is the meaning of democracy, and how has it evolved across American history? What has posed the greatest threat to democracy over time? How has bureaucratic governance grown over time, and in what ways has it bolstered or threatened democracy? 

Join Emilee Chapman (Associate Professor of Political Science), Larry Diamond (Mosbacher Senior Fellow of Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution), and Anne Joseph O’Connell (Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law) for a wide-ranging discussion of these issues.

This event is part of the course “America at 250,” which reflects on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The class brings together 30 faculty from across the university for a series of roundtable discussions on how the concerns and values expressed in that document have played out across U.S. history. Members of the Stanford community (faculty, students, postdocs, staff) are welcome to attend individual sessions.

Sponsored by: Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford Democracy Hub and Department of History