Episode 36: David Stasavage, American political scientist and an Affiliated Professor in NYU’s School of Law

David Stasavage is the Dean for the Social Sciences, the Julius Silver Professor in NYU’s Department of Politics, and an Affiliated Professor in NYU’s School of Law. He is the author of The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today, published by Princeton University Press in June 2020. This book provides a new understanding of early democracy in multiple world regions; it explains the survival in Europe and disappearance in China and the Middle East; and it then traces the long evolution of modern democracy while highlighting its internal tensions. Exploring the deep history of democracy, both early and modern, can teach us much about our current anxieties. David is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has also authored several previous books including Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe (Princeton, 2016), a book that charts the evolution of progressive taxation in twenty countries over the last two centuries.  David also has a number of recent papers on these and related topics.