Date:
Location:
"What’s New? What’s Next? Cultural and Structural Threats to the Constitutional Order of the United States and Western Europe"
Speaker:
Jennifer Hochschild, Faculty Associate. Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government; Chair, Department of Government; Professor of African and African American Studies, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University; Harvard College Professor.
Contact:
Ilana Freedman
ifreedman@g.harvard.edu
Chairs:
Panagiotis Roilos, Faculty Associate. George Seferis Professor of Modern Greek Studies, Department of the Classics; Professor of Comparative Literature, Department of Comparative Literature, Harvard University.
Dimitrios Yatromanolakis, Associate Professor, Department of Classics, Department of Anthropology, and the Humanities Center, The Johns Hopkins University.
Abstract:
Explanations of and predictions about the impact of conservative populist electoral gains range from “more or less politics as usual” to “constitutional crisis” to “payback time.” Focusing mainly but not only on the US, I explore some of the relatively benign interpretations of recent political upheaval. I then consider two much more serious threats to western constitutional orders. The first threat focuses on the cultural and political implications of increasing geographic polarization between urban, cosmopolitan centers and less urban, more llocally-oriented regions. This threat addresses democratic discourse and decision-making. The second threat focuses on the cultural and political implications of decreasing “political correctness,” a.k.a. the willingness or even eagerness to violate norms that disguise or deflect group-based hostilities. This threat addresses liberal discourse and protections.
