Larry Diamond marks three decades of scholarship
On Oct. 20, Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law celebrated the launch of Larry Diamond’s latest book, “In Search of Democracy” (Routledge), which chronicles three decades of Diamond’s scholarship on democratic development. CDDRL Director Francis Fukuyama moderated the session, engaging Diamond in a candid discussion on the origins of his scholarly work on Nigeria’s political history, to his latest theories on the global democratic recession, including the declining state of American democracy.
Diamond’s book is a collection of essays that provides a comparative study of democratic success and failure – examining the quality of democracy in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. During the event, Diamond reflected on some of his predecessors who influenced his work, such as Seymour Martin Lipset and Marion Levy, as well as some of the predictions that he got wrong during his career. Diamond’s talk revealed the evolution of his theories on democratic development, but underscored the importance of effective governance and institutions as the essential building blocks for democratic success.
Video and photos from the event can be found below.
To purchase the book, please visit visit the publication page here.