Coming Together or Coming Apart?: America and the 2012 Election

Mark Hansen, Social Sciences Dean at the University of Chicago, traces the extent and origins of America’s political divisions and analyzes the effect they will have on the 2012 elections. He assesses the prospects for effective governance in the future.

Hansen is one of the nation’s leading scholars of American politics and has focused his research on interest groups, citizen activism, public opinion, public budgeting, and politicians’ inferences from the outcomes of elections. He delivered this lecture, “Coming Together or Coming Apart?: America and the 2012 Election” in Beijing and Jinan.

In Jinan on March 19, Hansen inaugurated the University of Chicago-Shanda American Culture Exchange Center, a joint effort between Shandong University and the University of Chicago, partially supported by the American Center for Educational Exchange.