Democracy in an Age of Mistrust: A Conversation

Date: Apr 08th

Ethan Zuckerman’s new book explores how Americans can use their skepticism to resurrect, reform, or outright replace the institutions that no longer serve them.

From the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street, and from cryptocurrency advocates to the #MeToo movement, Americans and citizens of democracies worldwide are losing confidence in what we once called the system. How should we engage in public life when neither protests nor elections bring about lasting change? In Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them, author Ethan Zuckerman explores how Americans can use their skepticism to resurrect, reform, or outright replace the institutions that no longer serve them. In conversation with Princeton political scientist Omar Wasow, he will offer a guide for new ways to participate in civic life.

Speakers:
Ethan Zuckerman, Author, Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them; Founder, Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure and Associate Professor of Public Policy, Information, and Communication, the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Omar Wasow, Assistant Professor of Politics, Princeton University