Political Science

Michael Leo Owens, Ph.D., Department of Political Science, Emory University

Portions of the U.S. public focus on reducing police violence, particularly police shootings of civilians. Journalists and activists sustain that focus by documenting and publicizing annual numbers of police shootings. Does providing numeric information about police shootings influence public support for police reforms? The talk will address empirical challenges of answering the question and offer insights about numeric-based initiatives to reduce police shootings in the U.S.

John Peter Diiulio, the James N. Perry Scholar of Philosophy, Politics, and Society in the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania, will discuss his book on J.S. Mill, Completely Free: The Moral and Political Vision of John Stuart Mill. It provides an original and unified reconstruction of Mill’s practical philosophy, and advances a sympathetic yet critical argument for the cogency and potency of his Utilitarian liberalism.

Co-sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Forum.

Commencement reception for Polical Science Seniors and their families.

Commencement reception for Polical Science Seniors and their families.

Commencement reception for Polical Science Seniors and their families.

Commencement reception for Polical Science Seniors and their families.

Commencement reception for Polical Science Seniors and their families.

Professor Alan Levine will discuss his manuscript-in-progress, which analyzes how America was perceived by the political thinkers of Europe from Columbus through today. His book is about America as a symbol. Levine argues that their intellectual battle over the meaning of America is a proxy war over liberalism, the Enlightenment, European civilization, and modernity itself – the same battles raging around the globe today. By tracing the origins and evolution of these views, Levine sheds light on the anti-liberalism threatening to undo the Western world. 

Abstract: Two big earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria on February 6. Thousands of buildings collapsed, and hundreds of thousands became trapped under the rubble. So far more than 21,000 lost their lives, and many more are injured. The death toll is estimated to reach 200,000 as more bodies are recovered. Entire cities and villages have been destroyed. With more than 10 million people left homeless, some doubly by war and now natural disaster, the earthquake stands as one of the biggest humanitarian crises of this century.

Paul M. Sniderman is the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy at Stanford University. His research focuses on multiculturalism and politics in Western Europe and spatial reasoning. He coauthored The Struggle for Inclusion: Muslims and Liberal Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2022) with Elisabeth Ivarsflaten.