Is America, like many countries around the world, experiencing democratic decline? Or have American institutions long fallen short of democratic ideals?

We think about America as an established democracy—perhaps even the oldest modern democracy in the world—but democracy is a long process. While a comparative lens can help us understand threats to American democracy by showing how democracy has succeeded or failed in other countries, scholars of race and ethnicity have long discussed the undemocratic elements of the American state. How has American democracy fallen short both historically and today, and how can we integrate the frameworks of race/ethnic politics and of comparative politics to better understand contemporary outcomes?

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Didi Kuo, who is writing a book about the collapse of political parties across Western democracies and its implication for democratic reform, and Ted Johnson, who is writing a book about black voting behavior in the post-Obama political landscape.

Speakers:

Didi Kuo, @didikuo1
Class of 2018 Eric & Wendy Schmidt Fellow, New America
Author, Clientelism, Capitalism, and Democracy

Marcia Chatelain, @DrMChatelain
Class of 2017 Eric & Wendy Schmidt Fellow, New America
Author, South Side Girls: Growing up in the Great Migration

Kimberley Johnson, @KimberleyNYC
Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University
Former Professor and Director of the Urban Studies Program, Professor of Political Science, Barnard College

Moderator:

Ted Johnson, PhD, @DrTedJ
Class of 2017-2018 Eric & Wendy Schmidt Fellow, New America

====================================

New America is dedicated to the renewal of American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the digital age through big ideas, technological innovation, next generation politics, and creative engagement with broad audiences.

Subscribe to our channel for new videos on a wide range of policy issues: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=newamericafoundation

Subscribe to The New America Weekly and other newsletters: http://www.newamerica.org/subscribe/#