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Thursday

02/11/10  7:00pm-8:00pm   (rescheduled from Wed 2/10)

Jonathan Weiler
discusses his book Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics

Although politics at the elite level has been polarized
for some time, a scholarly controversy has raged over whether ordinary
Americans are polarized. This book argues that they are and that the reason is
growing polarization of worldviews - what guides people's view of right and
wrong and good and evil. These differences in worldview are rooted in what Marc
J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler describe as authoritarianism. They show
that differences of opinion concerning the most provocative issues on the
contemporary issue agenda - about race, gay marriage, illegal immigration, and
the use of force to resolve security problems - reflect differences in
individuals" levels of authoritarianism. This makes authoritarianism an
especially compelling explanation of contemporary American politics. Events and
strategic political decisions have conspired to make all these considerations
more salient. The authors demonstrate that the left and the right have
coalesced around these opposing worldviews, which has provided politics with
more incandescent hues than before.

Jonathan D. Weiler is currently director of undergraduate
studies and adjunct assistant professor of international and area studies at UNC
-Chapel Hill. His previous book, Human Right
in Russia: A Darker Side of Reform, was published in 2004.