In our hyperpartisan era, many Americans are only willing to talk politics with people who share their beliefs. Read our inaugural newsletter to learn about how the Duke Program in American Values and Institutions challenges students to consider ideologies different from their own. In addition to describing highlights of the past academic year, the newsletter […]
Jason Frank gives keynote address at graduate conference
“The engagement between our graduate student participants and faculty, as well as a terrific keynote speech by Professor Jason Frank of Cornell University,” were among the highlights of the 2019 Graduate Conference in Political Theory, according to graduate student and conference co-organizer Elliot Mamet. Professor Frank’s address was entitled, “The People as Popular Manifestation.” The […]
Visions of Freedom Living Learning Community recruiting new members
Interested in politics, economics, philosophy, or ethics? Do you want to live with students who share these interests next year? Consider joining the Visions of Freedom Living Learning Community (LLC), an undergraduate program funded in part by the American Values and Institutions Program. The Visions of Freedom LLC is a group of Duke students with […]
Lawrie Balfour explores freedom in the novels of Toni Morrison
Brennan Neely is a junior philosophy major. People mill about and chat with others also dressed in collared shirts, jeans and the rolled-up sleeves of early evening. The room has an air of casual but unquestioned curiosity. We were waiting for Lawrie Balfour’s Political Theory Workshop in Duke’s Gross Hall. Balfour—a professor of politics at […]
Patrick Deneen speaks to Focus students about the history of liberalism
Patrick Deneen spoke to Focus students about the difference between ancient and modern conceptions of freedom. His talk touched on themes from his most recent book, Why Liberalism Failed. During his trip to Duke, Professor Deneen also gave a public lecture sponsored by the Kenan Institute, and spoke to Frank Stasio, the host of WUNC’s […]
Jean Yarborough gives Constitution Day Lecture
This is the first of a series of blog posts written by Duke undergraduates. David Frish is a junior and political science major. In honor of Constitution Day, Professor Jean Yarbrough of Bowdoin College spoke to Duke University undergraduates on September 20th and 21st. But for Bowdoin’s Gary M. Pendy Sr. Professor of Social Sciences […]
Citizen Activism Panel – April 17, 2018
We were proud to collaborate with the Center for Political, Leadership, Innovation and Service to host a panel discussion on citizen activism. All three panelists—Durham Mayor Pro Tempore Jillian Johnson, chair of the NC Libertarian Party Susan Hogarth, and former organizer with NC for Trump Mitch Myers—have years of experience with grassroots organizing. Moreover, they […]
Political Theory Workshop hosts Arash Abizadeh
McGill University Professor Arash Abizadeh presented a paper entitled, “Representation, Bicameralism, and Sortition: Reconstituting the Senate as a Randomly Selected Citizen Assembly.” Professor Abizadeh’s specializes in both contemporary political theory and the history of political thought; his research focuses on questions of identity, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, as well as the relationship between rhetoric, passions and […]
Pierre Rosanvallon gives public lecture on populism
Pierre Rosanvallon’s public lecture, “Populism and Democracy in the 21st Century,” discussed whether democracy has a future, given that the leading parties in many countries seem more interested in cultivating the interests and favor of the elite than with representing mass opinion. Professor Rosanvallon is an intellectual historian at the College de France. He is […]
Stephen Macedo: Political Theory Workshop – March 1, 2018
Diversity and Distrust: Civic Education in a Multicultural Democracy (Harvard University Press, 2003), and Liberal Virtues: Citizen, Virtue, and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism (Oxford University Press, 1990).On March 1, Professor Stephen Macedo gave a talk entitled: “Regulating Offensive Expression: The Roles of Self-Censorship, Social Norms, and Civility.” Professor Macedo is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of […]