SUNY-Geneseo: “Conspiracy and Democracy: Misinformation, Anti-Liberalism, and Our Constitutional Future”
On October 23, 2020, the Forum on Constitutionalism and Democracy at SUNY-Geneseo, a JMC partner program, will be holding a JMC-sponsored virtual discussion with J. Russell Muirhead and JMC fellow Laura K. Field on the current political landscape and the future of American democracy:
Democratic government requires an informed citizenry—one which is capable of making responsible political choices and serving as the active guardian of its own liberty. Today, the ubiquity of the internet and social media (which were once hailed for their potential to inform and unite), together with rising populism and the willingness of an American president to sanction conspiracy theories, has contributed to a debilitating polarization and raised new and troubling questions about the future of constitutionalism and civic education. Please join us for a discussion with J. Russell Muirhead and Laura K. Field as we seek to understand the implications of these developments for the future of democracy in the United States.
Friday, October 23, 2020, 4:00 PM, EDT
A virtual lecture through Zoom
Interested members of the public may email herold@geneseo.edu.
Laura K. Field is a writer, political theorist, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center, and Scholar in Residence at American University. She writes about current political affairs from a vantage point informed by the history of political thought. She earned a Ph.D. in political theory and public law from the University of Texas at Austin, and has taught at Georgetown and American University. Her academic writing spans antiquity and modernity, and has appeared in The Journal of Politics, The Review of Politics, and Polity. Field’s current work explores the role of ethics and evaluative judgment in the modern world.
Dr. Field is a JMC fellow.
Learn more about Laura Field >>
J. Russell Muirhead is the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics and Chair of the Department of Government at Dartmouth College. Additionally, he serves as Co-Director for the Political Economy Project and as Interim Director for the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy. Professor Muirhead’s areas of expertise include ideas and institutions in American constitutional democracy, American political thought, partisanship and ideology, and contemporary political theory. He is the co-author of a recent book about the rise of conspiratorial thinking in American politics: A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy (2019). His past publications include books on the place of partisanship in democratic citizenship (The Promise of Party in a Polarized Age, 2014) and on the moral meaning of work (Just Work, 2004).
Learn more about J. Russell Muirhead >>
The Forum on Constitutionalism and Democracy at SUNY-Geneseo was established in 2019 by Professors Carly Herold and Aaron Herold to establish programming and foster campus conversations about civic education and liberal democracy. The Forum is supported by a grant from the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History.
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