{"id":5679,"date":"2025-10-21T06:01:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T06:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deliberativecitizenship.org\/?p=5679"},"modified":"2025-10-24T21:01:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:01:28","slug":"expert-roundtable-on-balancing-self-government-and-national-stability-the-case-of-presidents-institutions-and-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deliberativecitizenship.org\/announcements\/expert-roundtable-on-balancing-self-government-and-national-stability-the-case-of-presidents-institutions-and-the-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert Roundtable on Balancing Self-Government and National Stability: The Case of Presidents, Institutions, and the People"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Poster<\/figure>\n\n\n

The Deliberative Citizenship Initiative\u00a0invites you to join us\u00a0for a watch party with Davidson students, faculty, staff, and community members in Hance Auditorium to view the second Expert Roundtable on \u201cBalancing Self-Government and National Stability: The Case of Presidents, Institutions, and the People<\/a>\u201d that will be hosted at UNC Chapel Hill from 5:30 pm to 7 pm on October 30. Refreshments will be served. Registration is not required, but please help us out with our planning by clicking on\u00a0this link<\/a>.\u00a0If you can’t join us in person, you can also view the Expert Roundtable online yourself by registering for the event via UNC Chapel Hill’s\u00a0registration page<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists on this roundtable include Thomas Frank (best-selling author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?<\/em>), John Gastil (professor of communication studies, public policy, and political science at Penn State), and Jennifer Mascott (professor of law and founder of the Separation of Powers Institute at Catholic University). See below for more info about each panelist and the moderator (Kevin McGuire, UNC Chapel Hill professor of political science): <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Frank<\/a> <\/strong>is a historian and political analyst known for his critically acclaimed books, such as What\u2019s the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America <\/em>(2004) and, most recently, The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism<\/em> (2020). Dr. Frank, who earned a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, is best known for his New York Times best-selling book, What\u2019s the Matter with Kansas<\/em>, while his more recent book on anti-populism explores the populism movements from the 1890s to the New Deal to the Civil Rights Movement to the present \u2013 and the resistance to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Gastil<\/strong><\/a> is Distinguished Professor of Communication Studies, Public Policy, and Political Science at Penn State, where he also serves as Senior Scholar at the\u202fMcCourtney Institute for Democracy and teaches courses on political communication, group behavior, and democratic deliberation. Dr. Gastil studies political deliberation and deliberative governance, and he has authored several books, including, most recently, Hope for Democracy: How Citizens Can Bring Reason Back into Politics <\/em>(2019), which examines how the State of Oregon’s Citizens’ Initiative Review enables citizens and public officials to work together to bring more rationality and empathy into modern politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Mascott<\/a>\u202f<\/strong>is Associate Professor of Law (currently on public service leave) and the Founder of the\u202fSeparation of Powers Institute\u202fat Catholic Law. Professor Mascott’s writing focuses on administrative and constitutional law, constitutional and statutory interpretation, and separation of powers in the U.S. context. Professor Mascott clerked for Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, served in the US Department of Justice in 2019 and 2020 and in the White House General Counsel\u2019s Office in 2025. She was recently confirmed to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd<\/sup> Circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin McGuire\u202f<\/a><\/strong> is Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and will serve as the moderator of the roundtable. Dr. McGuire teaches courses on the U.S. Supreme Court and American constitutional law. His current research interests include the effect of the Court\u2019s institutional arrangements on the Court\u2019s policymaking, the impact of public opinion on the Court, and the measurement and modeling of judicial outcomes. He is the author of Understanding the U.S. Supreme Court\u202f<\/em>and The Supreme Court Bar: Legal Elites in the Washington Community\u202f<\/em>, and co-editor of the forthcoming Creating Constitutional Change: Clashes over Power and Liberty in the Supreme Court\u202f<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

250th<\/sup> Anniversary American Values Deliberative Forum Series<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This event is the second Expert Roundtable in the 250th<\/sup> Anniversary American Values Deliberative Forum Series<\/strong><\/a>, which is designed to commemorate the upcoming 250th<\/sup> anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This anniversary represents an important opportunity to both deepen and elevate the discourse about the values that have animated American social and political debates throughout its history. The goal of the series is to enable Americans of all backgrounds \u2013 college students, high school students, families and neighbors, members of faith communities and other civic organizations \u2013 to authentically, respectfully, and constructively engage with each other about our foundational ideals and how they are relevant to contemporary policy issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-hosted by Davidson College\u2019s Deliberative Citizenship Initiative (DCI), Duke University\u2019s Provost\u2019s Initiative on Pluralism, Free Inquiry, and Belonging, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\u2019s Program for Public Discourse, this year-long program will include both Expert Roundtables and Community Conversations dedicated to unpacking, understanding, and applying the values that are foundational to the United States \u2013 and to many other countries around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch Parties and Community Conversations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, we\u2019re proud to partner with two other North Carolina institutions of higher education, Duke and UNC Chapel Hill, to expand the reach of the series. Davidson will host two of the Expert Roundtables, while Duke and UNC will each host one roundtable on their respective campuses. All four will be available to watch online, with potential for \u201cwatch parties\u201d to be held at higher education institutions and other organizations across North Carolina and beyond, including Davidson, Duke, and UNC-Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizations can also host Community Conversations in the week after the Expert Roundtable. For ideas on how to host either a watch party of community conversation, check out the webinar<\/a> that DCI Faculty Director Graham Bullock hosted that provides an overview of different strategies and options you might work well in different organizational and community contexts. Please email dci@davidson.edu if you have any questions or ideas you’d like to share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are some guides that you can use to host such conversations. The Deliberation Guide <\/strong>provides both important background information on the topics in question and a specific framework for engaging with these topics in the context of a two-hour facilitated conversation, which is the format that the DCI’s D Teams will use to explore the topic. The Issue Guide <\/strong>is similar to the Deliberation Guide but does not include the structured format for group conversations. The Issue Brief <\/strong>provides a brief outline of the main ideas that are presented in the Deliberation Guide and Issue Guide. While both include a similar list of questions to consider about the topic, they are designed for personal reflection before, during, or after our expert roundtable on the same topic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISSUE BRIEF<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n