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Events >> Democracy in the World
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The First Annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World December 6, 2004 The Embassy of Canada, Washington, D.C. On December 6, 2004, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Canadian Embassy to the United States inaugurated an important new forum for discourse on democracy and its progress worldwide: the Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World. The lecture is named for one of the great democratic scholars and public intellectuals of the twentieth century. Seymour Martin Lipset’s scholarship on such themes as the conditions for democracy, political parties, voting behavior, extremist movements, ideologies, and public opinion constitutes one of the most prolific, insightful, and widely read bodies of work on democracy ever produced by a single author. Lipset has also been one of the most important comparative analysts of the two great democracies of North America, and a strong advocate for US-Canadian cooperation. The joint US-Canadian sponsorship of the Lipset Lecture will provide an opportunity for influential audiences in both countries to hear and discuss a major intellectual statement on democracy each year and will serve as a catalyst for further cooperation between Canada and the United States in the promotion of democracy and democratic ideas around the world. The lecture, which is also cosponsored with the Munk Centre for International Studies of the University of Toronto, will in future years be delivered in both the US and Canada and will be an intellectual platform for men and women who, like Lipset, have made important contributions to our thinking about key issues of democracy through their writings and other accomplishments. While future lecturers may be known primarily for their academic achievements, others, like President Cardoso, will have records of public service that equal their intellectual stature. The lecture will be published each year in NED’s Journal of Democracy. Seymour Martin Lipset has been one of the most influential and prolific social scientists of the period beginning in the second half of the twentieth century. The son of Russian immigrants, Lipset studied sociology at the City College of New York, whose “Alcove One” brought him into contact with other rising intellectuals of the anti-Stalinist left. One of Lipset’s major scholarly interests throughout his career has been the question of why socialism never took hold in the United States. This led him to write his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University on the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a Canadian agrarian socialist party that at the time was experiencing significant electoral success in Western Canada. Thus marked the beginning of a lifelong interest in Canada and comparative study of the two great democracies of North America. Early in his career his interest in the failure of social democracy turned to the comparative study of the conditions for democracy. His major work has been in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and the sociology of intellectual life. Lipset’s academic affiliations have included Columbia, Stanford, Berkeley and Harvard. Most recently he has been a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford and the Hazel Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books and monographs. Translations of some of these have appeared in eighteen languages. In addition, he has edited twenty-four books and published more than four hundred articles. Lipset received the MacIver Prize for Political Man and the Gunnar Myrdal Prize for The Politics of Unreason. His book The First New Nation was a finalist for the National Book Award, and his scholarship has been recognized with many other awards. Elected to several academic and honorific societies in the United States and abroad, Lipset is the only person to have been president of both the American Sociological Association (1992–93) and the American Political Science Association (1979–80). His many other affiliations include leadership roles in organizations that span the realm of the arts and sciences, public policy, international affairs and the Jewish community. Lipset is the father of three children, David, Daniel and Cici, and is married to Sydnee Guyer. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who served as President of Brazil from 1994–2002, is one of Latin America’s most distinguished social scientists and statesmen. A prominent sociologist, Cardoso has been an influential intellectual, an effective public servant and a key figure in Brazil’s emergence as a major democracy. Born in 1931, Cardoso studied sociology at the University of São Paulo. Early in his career, Cardoso’s commitment to democratic principles and his vocal opposition to Brazil’s military dictators led to his forced exile in 1964. When he returned to Brazil in 1968, he was arrested and banned from teaching. During this time Cardoso established the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Research. The group gathered leading intellectuals to conduct independent research on contemporary social, economic and political questions and quickly became an influential think-tank in Brazil and abroad. To escape further military prosecution, Cardoso spent the 1970s and early 80s teaching in Chile, France and the United States. Cardoso was first elected to national office in 1986 as a senator from the state of São Paulo; two years later he helped establish the Brazilian Social Democratic Party and led his party in the Brazilian Senate until October 1992. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1992–93) and Minister of Economy and Finance (1993–1994). As minister of finance, Cardoso has been credited with successfully working to end hyperinflation and turning around the troubled Brazilian economy. On October 3, 1994, Cardoso was elected to the fi rst of his two-terms as president. During his presidency, Cardoso strengthened political institutions, increased economic stability and growth, invested in health and human development programs and expanded educational opportunities for all Brazilians while promoting human rights and development. His policies are linked to a significant decrease in the number of Brazilians living below the poverty line. Cardoso currently chairs the Club of Madrid and the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil Society Relations and serves as co-chairman of the Inter-American Dialogue and as coordinator of the working group in charge of reviewing the process of Ibero-American Summits. Cardoso has served as a visiting professor at numerous academic centers in Europe and the United States and is professor emeritus of political science at the University of São Paulo. He and his wife Ruth have three children. |
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