“Why Nations Thrive: Qualities that Explain the Health and Survival of Democracy” with Michael Mazarr

The United States and other long-established democracies around the world are under growing strain. Some countries have seen backward movement, with increasingly autocratic norms and habits on the rise. These trends raise a critical and urgent question: What qualities of a society are essential for the preservation of democracy? In this talk, Michael Mazarr will bring to bear results of decades of work on social trends, the sources of radicalism, the information environment, and especially the role of public-spirited elites to suggest an explanation for our current challenges--and a way forward to renew American democracy.