Featuring Steve Levitsky. Levitsky is a professor of government and Latin American studies and director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. He is senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation and a senior democracy fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His research focuses on democratization and authoritarianism, political parties, and weak and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. He is co-author (with Daniel Ziblatt) of the bestselling How Democracies Die and Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point.

Ben Rhodes is a writer, political commentator, and national security analyst. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made, and The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House. He is currently co-host of Pod Save the World; a contributor for MSNBC; a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama; and chair of National Security Action, which he co-founded with Jake Sullivan in 2018. Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, the United Nations Association at the UO, and the School of Journalism and Communication.

Frances Moore Lappé is a social justice activist and the author of 20 books, including Diet for a Small Planet, which sold millions of copies and was named as one of 75 Books by Women Whose Words Have Changed the World by the Women's National Book Association. Her most recent works focus on “living democracy”—suggesting not only a government accountable to citizens but a way of living aligned with the deep human need for connection, meaning, and power. Among many awards, she has received the James Beard Humanitarian Award, the International Studies Association's 2009 Outstanding Public Scholar Award, the Nonino Prize in Italy for her life's work, and 20 honorary doctorates.

Chloe Thurston, Northwestern; and Emily Zackin, Johns Hopkins; will discuss their forthcoming book. The Political Development of American Debt Relief traces how geographic, sectoral, and racial politics shaped debtor activism over time, enhancing our understanding of state-building, constitutionalism, and social policy.

Will Jones, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, will deliver the Bob Bussel Labor History Lecture on April 24, 2025.

The UO Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) created the lecture in recognition of Bob Bussel’s years of service as LERC’s director and an affiliated member of the UO history department.  The lecture features historians with a distinguished record of scholarship, a commitment to public history, and an interest in labor and working-class issues.  Will Jones is a professor of history at the University of Minnesota with a particular interest in issues of race and class.  Professor Jones is the author of two books and numerous articles on labor and working-class history.  He is also a past president of the Labor and Working-Class History Association.

Danielle Allen, 2024-25 Wayne Morse Chair, is a political theorist, professor at Harvard University and an advocate for democracy. Her acclaimed book, Our Declaration, offers a profound analysis of American democratic principles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Allen contributed crucial insights on equitable policy responses and effective governance. Allen recieved the Kluge Prize, which recognizes work in disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prizes, in 2020. In 2022, she ran for Governor of Massachusetts, emphasizing the need for systemic reform and inclusivity in state government. She writes a column on constitutional democracy for the Washington Post.