Political Science

Is Civility Dead? Many Americans believe the 2016 presidential election has been unusually vicious. But concerns about civility are hardly limited to political campaigns or to the current day. Given the long history of rudeness in the United States, is civility even possible? And even if it’s possible, is civility desirable? Why not just celebrate free speech and tell people they need to develop a thicker skin? Join us for a discussion of how and why we should all get along. Keith J. Bybee the Paul E. and the Hon. Joanne F.

“Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay” —Oliver Goldsmith, “The Deserted Village” (1770) Inequality is on the rise in the contemporary global economy, both within prosperous economies and between developed and developing countries. Can democracy sustain itself while acquiescing in a growing gap between the world’s haves and have-nots? Does the American dream depend on a foundation of shared prosperity that is increasingly a historical artifact?

This will be an informal lunch with faculty to build awareness about programs at the Middlebury Institute of international studies in Monterey. Maren Gauldin, assistant director of global recruiting at MIIS, and Orion Lewis, professor of political science and faculty advisor for accelerated degrees, will provide brief audiovisual remarks briefing attendees on the structure of the recently announced accelerated degree offerings.

“Ecologies of Freedom: Global Political Thinking in the Age of Socrates” A lecture by Joel Alden Schlosser, Department of Political Science, Bryn Mawr College Drawing on the ancient historian Herodotus as well as ancient Greek poetic and scientific texts, this talk will consider an underappreciated strand of political thinking in the classical world, one deeply concerned with the complexity and interdependency of geography, culture, and political structure among diverse groups of people.

Commencement reception for Polical Science Seniors and their families.

Commencement reception for Polical Science Seniors and their families.

Mary Gallagher is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, where she is also the Director of the Center for Chinese Studies, and a faculty associate at the Center for Comparative Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research. The underlying question that drives her research in all of these areas is whether the development of markets is linked to the sequential development of democratic politics and legal rationality. Put simply, she is interested in the relationships between capitalism, law and democracy.

Students will have an opportunity to hear from and ask questions of four alumni who have pursued careers in law. Karen Massey ‘74 is a graduate of Yale Law School. Her diverse experience includes legal positions with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Maine Land and Water Resources Council, the Marine Law Institute, and education at several levels. Jeff Thaler ‘77, a graduate of Yale Law School, teaches energy law at the University of Maine teaches land use, regulatory and energy law courses and skills at Maine Law School in Portland, Maine.

The 2016 presidential race has showcased the biggest and most colorful cast of presidential candidates in recent memory, including Vermont’s own Bernie Sanders, Celebrity Apprentice impresario Donald Trump and neurosurgeon Ben Carson. On the eve of the Iowa caucus, Professor Matthew Dickinson will examine the state of the race. Who is most likely to win their party’s nomination, and why?

Andrew Flowers, former Quantitative Editor and Economics Writer for FiveThirtyEight.com, will profile six types of data journalism stories. Several stories will serve as examples, such as p-hacking in nutrition studies, police officer shootings, Uber’s effect on taxis, and what local characteristics explain Donald Trump’s electoral victory.

Sponsored by: Middlebury Mathematics, Political Science, Economics, and CTLR.