Announcements

By Theda Skocpol, James Madison Lecture | American Political Science Association, September 6, 2024 I am greatly honored by receipt of the James Madison Award and thankful for this opportunity to engage with so many thoughtful colleagues. From the moment I was notified, I realized the Award is not just a passive honor; it requires…Continue Reading Rising threats to US Democracy – Roots and Responses

By Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, November 4, 2024 “Jacob Javits of New York is the first United States senator to become fully automated,” the Chicago Tribune announced in 1962 from the Republican state convention in Buffalo, where an electronic Javits spat out slips of paper with answers to questions about everything from Cuba’s missiles (“a serious…Continue Reading The Artificial State

By Christy DeSmith, Harvard Gazette, November 1, 2024 With another presidential election at America’s doorstep, Lawrence D. Bobo, the dean of Social Science, last week gathered four of his division’s faculty members — Mina Cikara, Jill Lepore, Eric Nelson, and Theda Skocpol — to discuss the state of the U.S. political system.   “We don’t have enough…Continue Reading Social Science faculty lend insight, analysis ahead of election

By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, New York Times, October 24, 2024 Democratic self-rule contains a paradox. It is a system premised on openness and competition. Any ambitious party or politician should have a shot at running for office and winning. But what if a major candidate seeks to dismantle that very system? America confronts…Continue Reading There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth.

By Lawrence Bobo, Contributing Opinion Writer, Harvard Crimson, May 7, 2024. For many of us faculty members, these past few months have culminated in a series of superlative highs, wrought with a flurry of seemingly endless lows. We’ve endured the whipsaw experience of the great hopes for Claudine Gay’s presidency, fierce controversy on how to…Continue Reading Why Harvard Faculty Should Reject a Faculty Senate

By Christy DeSmith, Harvard Staff Writer, Harvard Gazette, April 22, 2024. A new study reveals the secret world of lawyers who earn top dollar lobbying government regulators. “Most people think of lobbying as something that happens in Congress,” said political scientist Daniel Carpenter, the Allie S. Freed Professor of Government and chair of the Department of…Continue Reading Lawyers reap big profits lobbying government regulators under the radar

By Christy DeSmith, Harvard Staff Writer, Harvard Gazette, March 21, 2024. A recent working paper charts the surprising politics of zero-sum thinking — or the belief that one individual or group’s gain is another’s loss — with a goal of offering fresh insight into our nation’s schisms. The buzzworthy paper was co-authored by Stefanie Stantcheva, the Nathaniel Ropes…Continue Reading Why are we so divided? Zero-sum thinking is part of it.

By Christy DeSmith, Harvard Staff Writer, Harvard Gazette, March 14, 2024. A group of real estate developers pitched Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07, J.D. ’12, early last year on the creation of incentives for building more housing in a time of high labor costs and interest rates. Like most coastal cities, Boston is gripped by…Continue Reading Lending a hand to a former student — Boston’s mayor