Books in the The Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture Series series

Authors Seymour Martin Lipset and Jason M. Lakin examine why democracy has succeeded in some countries and failed in others.

A democracy falters when most of its citizens are uninformed or misinformed, when misinformation affects political decisions and actions, or when political actors foment misinformation - the state of affairs the United States faces today, as this timely book makes painfully clear.

A masterful analysis of the most significant American political trend in the past forty years.

Pundits and social observers have voiced alarm each year as fewer Americans involve themselves in voluntary groups that meet regularly. Thousands of nonprofit groups have been launched in recent times, but most are run by professionals who lobby Congress or deliver social services to clients. What will happen to U.S. democracy if participatory groups and social movements wither, while civic involvement becomes one more occupation rather than every citizen's right and duty? In Diminished Democracy, Theda Skocpol shows that this decline in public involvement has not always been the case in this country-and how, by understanding the causes of this change, we might reverse it.