Tocqueville on the Sources of Greatness in Democratic Societies

Aurelian Craiutu of Indiana University gives a talk entitled “Tocqueville on the Sources of Greatness in Democratic Societies” for the Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts (November 27, 2012). His research interests include French political and social thought (Montesquieu, Tocqueville, Constant, Madame de Staël, Guizot, Aron), varieties of liberalism and conservatism, democratic theory as well as theories of transition to democracy and democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe.

The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College ’32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University).

 

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Then and Now: Looking at Current Fiscal Challenges in the U.S.

In his talk entitled “Constitutional Moments,” Prof. Michael Greve of George Mason University School of Law considers the current fiscal challenges facing the United States and reflects on the similarities and differences between our current situation and the crisis of the 1780’s that led to the major institutional changes embodied in the U.S. Constitution (September 19, 2012).

His talk was sponsored by the Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts, which is offered in conjunction with the Voluntary Core Curriculum Program in Emory College, and the Jack Miller Center as a Constitution Day event.

The Emory Williams Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts has been made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Emory Williams (Emory College ’32 and Trustee Emeritus, Emory University).

Listen to audio version on iTunesU

Evan Dunn Receives Emory’s Highest Student Honor

Emory senior Evan Dunn, a political science and history major, is the 2012 recipient of the university’s highest student honor, the Marion Luther Brittain Award, which is presented each year to a graduate who has demonstrated exemplary service to both the university and the greater community without expectation of recognition.

Candidates are required to demonstrate a strong character, meritorious service and sense of integrity. Dunn received the award, which also comes with $5,000, during the central commencement ceremony on May 14th.

After transitioning from Oxford College to Emory College, he interned with the International Rescue Committee, working as a tutor and helping refugees navigate the healthcare system. He is co-founder and program manager for a refugee GED program in Clarkston, Ga., and leads a weekly Volunteer Emory service trip to the program for other students.

On campus, Dunn served on the Honor Council and led the Emory College Council’s Committee for Academic Integrity. He has also served as an orientation leader and captain and currently works with the Oxford Continuee Association. In addition, he worked as a student manager in the Student Activity and Academic Center.

After graduation, Dunn will teach high-school math in Atlanta as part of Teach for America for two years. He plans to return to school to earn a law degree and masters in public health to pursue a career in policy making and healthcare.

See full news release with accompanying YouTube video.

Klehr (Political Science) on McCarthy and American Communism

Harvey Klehr, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Politics and History, spoke on the topic of “Me and Joe McCarthy: Studying American Communism” at Emory’s 17th annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture (Feb. 6., 2012).

In the last two decades, as new material has become available from newly-opened Russian archives, the issue of whether Senator Joseph McCarthy was right about communist subversion has generated a lot of controversy. He talks about that issue, as well as what it is like to be labeled a ‘McCarthyite’ for exposing Americans who spied for the Soviet Union.

Klehr’s research interests center around American communism and Soviet espionage in America. His most recent publication, with John Earl Haynes and Alexander Vassiliev, is “Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America” (Yale University Press, 2009).

The Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series is part of Founders Week, an annual academic festival. Each year’s speaker for the series is selected by a committee, headed by the chair-elect of the Faculty Council and comprised of Distinguished Faculty Lecturers from previous years. The committee is responsible for administering the annual lecture initiated and supported by the Office of the President.

See full video of the talk on YouTube

Announcing nonsite.org

Check out the first issue of nonsite.org, a quarterly journal of art, philosophy and politics affiliated with Emory University.

According to the editors, the journal “emerges in part out of interest in a set of theoretical topics – the ontology of the work of art, the question of intentionality, the imperative to historicize, the ongoing appeal of different and sometimes competing materialisms – and in part out of opposition to the dominant accounts of those topics.”

The site contains a peer-reviewed quarterly journal with editorials, reviews, poetry and other features, including “the tank,” an on-line forum for solicited work in progress and for comment on it.

Editorial Board

Jennifer Ashton, Todd Cronan, Michael Fried, Oren Izenberg, Brian Kane, Ruth Leys, Walter Benn Michaels, Charles Palermo, Robert Pippin, and Victoria Scott