The Role of Foundations in Democracies

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Historians and political theorists on this panel will analyze the role of foundations in a democracy. Drawing on the history of the Rockefeller Foundation in the United States, for example, political theorist Rob Reich examines the peculiar institutional form that is the modern American philanthropic foundation and explores its fit with democracy. He concludes that despite many anti-democratic features the modern foundation is not incompatible with democracy. Political theorist Emma Saunders-Hastings studies the implications of considering foundations as one kind of (potentially) undemocratic influence among many. In her paper, she asks how the normative and regulatory questions raised by foundation influence compare to those posed by wealthy donors to political campaigns; by corporate political spending and corporate advertising; and by well-organized interest groups. Historian Maribel Morey presents some of her current research on the history of the Carnegie Corporation’s funding for black Americans in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. She concludes by analyzing how, leaning on this research, today’s foundations can become vehicles for strengthening (rather than undermining) minority groups’ empowerment in democratic societies. From his end, historian Lars Trägårdh continues the panel's discussion of foundations and democracy, while expanding the group's scope beyond the United States and to the Swedish context. He explores from a comparative and theoretical perspective the historical trajectory of foundations and philanthropies in Sweden.

Sub Unit

• Philanthropy and Foundations

Chair

• Stanley N. Katz, Princeton University

Individual Presentations

• "Repugnant to the Whole Idea of Democracy”: On the Role of Private Foundations in Democratic Societies - Rob Reich, Stanford University, Dept of Political Science

• Are Foundations a Countervailing Force? - Emma Saunders-Hastings, University of Chicago

• Civil War in Civil Society: Philanthropy and Foundations in the Shadow of Democratic Social Movements in Sweden - Lars Tragardh, Ersta Skondal University College

• Learning from the Carnegie Corporation: The Role of Foundations in the Lives of Minority Groups in a Democracy - Maribel Morey, Clemson University

Session Organizer

• Maribel Morey, Clemson University