Fifty years after the resignation of Richard Nixon, the presumed candidates in the 2024 Presidential race exchange barbs claiming that the other candidate poses fundamental threats to American democracy Regardless of one’s political views, anecdotal evidence today reports that many concerned citizens see these challenges as both real and growing. But how does one measure whether that is true both here and globally? How do political scientists measure the strength of a democracy?  How does America today compare with the Nixon years?  How have other major democracies evolved or declined over this time?  How is America doing compared to others?  And what are the keys to improving the future health of American democracy.

Four distinguished members of the Yale Political Science Department will address these issues and respond to our questions and comments.

Our moderator will be Alan Gerber, Sterling Professor of Political Science, director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and professor of economics and of and statistics and data science at Yale University. He also has affiliations with the Jackson School of Global Affairs. Alan will be joined by three distinguished panelists. David Mayhew is Sterling Professor of Political Science Emeritus He retired from Yale in 2015 but still teaches occasional courses He specializes in U.S. legislative behavior, political parties, and policymaking. Isabela Mares is the Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science and the Director of the European Union Center at Yale. She specializes in the comparative politics of Europe. Professor Mares has written extensively on labor market and social policy reforms, the political economy of taxation, electoral clientelism, reforms limiting electoral corruption Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs at Yale University. He has written widely and influentially on democracy, justice, and the methods of social inquiry.