Homepage for American Democracy Program

The Program on American Democracy in Comparative Perspective was inaugurated in 2013 within Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. It aims to investigate problems with American democracy, including polarization and gridlock, poor governance, and declining trust in government institutions. It also analyzes policy initiatives and institutional reforms that have the greatest potential to address those features of American democracy that are most impairing its performance. An important and distinctive feature of the Program on American Democracy’s work is to study American problems in comparative perspective, with particular attention to the structure and functioning of other established democracies.

People

cover link https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/people/fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama

Principal Investigator

FSI Senior Fellow, MIP Director

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and the Director of the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy.

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cover link https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/people/larry_diamond

Larry Diamond

Investigator

Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at FSI, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow

Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. For more than six years, he directed FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, where he now leads its Program on Arab Reform and Democracy.. For more than six years, he directed FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, where he now leads its Program on Arab Reform and Democracy.

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cover link https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/people/stephen_j_stedman

Stephen J. Stedman

Investigator

FSI Senior Fellow

Stephen Stedman is a Freeman Spogli senior fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law and FSI, an affiliated faculty member at CISAC, and professor of political science (by courtesy) at Stanford University.

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Bruce E. Cain

Investigator

Charles Louis Ducommun Professor, Humanities and Sciences Director, Bill Lane Center for the American West

Bruce E. Cain is a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West. His areas of expertise include political regulation, applied democratic theory, representation and state politics.

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cover link https://law.stanford.edu/directory/nathaniel-persily/

Nathaniel Persily

Investigator

James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, Cyber Policy Center Co-Director

Professor o Nathaniel Persily is the James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Lad School, where he has taught since 2013, and is a nationally recognized scholor of consititutional law, election law, and the democractic process.

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cover link https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/people/didi_kuo

Didi Kuo

Program Manager

Senior Research Scholar, CDDRL Associate Director for Research

Didi Kuo is the Associate Director for Research and Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. She is a scholar of comparative politics, with a focus on democratization, corruption and clientelism, political parties and institutions, and political reform.

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Other Faculty