Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

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The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives

Thu, October 5, 2023
Dinner Program
Josiah Ober
Democracy means having no boss other than ourselves. Democratic citizens rule themselves, directly or through their chosen representatives; they reject the rule of any individual, junta, or tyrannical majority. Democracy arises when, building on a prior history of political bargains, citizens compromise on a civic bargain: an always imperfect agreement for how they will govern themselves, and what that means for who gives and who gets what. Citizens enjoy freedom, equality, and dignity when they commit to undertaking the duties of citizenship – doing the political work that might otherwise be done by a boss. So how can modern democracies survive and thrive? Citizens must agree that security and welfare are common interests; they must set the bounds of citizenship and agree on institutions for making policy. They must be willing to compromise and must treat one another as civic friends, not political enemies. They must invest in education that teaches civic skills to future citizens and explains to them the value of self-government. Democracy survives when the civic bargain remains effective and when it evolves adaptively in the face of new challenges.

Josiah Ober is Constantine Mitsotakis Professor in the School of Humanities and Science, Professor of Political Science and Classics, and Professor of Philosophy (by courtesy). He is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and director of the Stanford Civics Initiative. He joined the Stanford faculty in 2006, having previously taught at Princeton and Montana State Universities. Ober’s scholarship focuses on historical institutionalism and political theory, especially democratic theory and the contemporary relevance of the political thought and practice of the ancient Greek world. He is the author of The Civic Bargain; How Democracy Survives (with Brook Manville, 2023), The Greeks and the Rational: The Discovery of Practical Reason (2022), Demopolis: Democracy before Liberalism (2017), The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece (2015) and other books and articles.

Dr. Ober's visit to the Athenaeum is co-sponsored by the Salvatori Center at CMC.

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

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