The Crises of the Republic: Comparing Four Threats and the Upswing

Session Submission Type: Virtual Roundtable

Session Description

Two significant books published in 2020 describe the current state of the US republic in comparable terms but explain the origins of the present crisis in different ways. In Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy, Robert C. Lieberman and Suzanne Mettler emphasize: 1) partisan polarization, 2) efforts to exclude some people from the polity, 3) economic inequality, and 4) executive overreach. In The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again, Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett analyze declines in: 1) political polarization, 2) economic equality, 3) social capital, and 4) communitarian cultural norms, These diagnoses overlap, although they are not identical. Lieberman and Mettler argue that the four threats recur throughout American history but have never occurred together until the present. Putnam and Garrett describe an “upswing” from 1900 to the 1960s, followed by decline since then. In this workshop, all four authors will discuss their similarities and differences. Dianne M. Pinderhughes will offer her perspectives on both books. The discussion will be moderated by Peter Levine.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Civic Studies

Chair

• Peter Levine Tufts University

Discussant

• Dianne M. Pinderhughes University of Notre Dame

Presenters

• Robert C. Lieberman Johns Hopkins University

• Suzanne Mettler Cornell University

• Robert D. Putnam Harvard University