Theda Skocpol (Harvard University; A..D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell), Rising Threats to U.S. Democracy — Roots and Responses

• 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. “Today I therefore grapple with the pressing question before us as social scientists and as citizens: How and why have U.S. politics and governance arrived at the present juncture where long-standing Constitutional practices and democratically responsive governance are very much at stake? My answer focuses on what I see as the prime driver of the current crisis, the recent radicalization of the Republican Party and its allies, as they have pursued two forms and phases of anti-democratic politics. The first version involves maximum use of legal hardball steps that stretch existing laws and rules to disadvantage partisan opponents (I also call this approach “McConnellism” in honor of its chief practitioner, outgoing GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky). The second approach targets political competitors and government operations with extralegal harassment, threats of violence, even actual violence. Drawing on my own research with many collaborators, as well as from many excellent studies by colleagues in political science and beyond, I will dissect the elite and popular roots of recent Republican embrace of both forms of antidemocratic politics.”
• Video of the presentation – https://www.cornell.edu/video/theda-skocpol-2024
• Full Text – https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A1649f93f-16a7-4433-a73f-e8c2506db4d3&viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover