Larry Diamond in Central America

Professor Larry Diamond, ’73, MA ’78, PHD ’80, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). At FSI, he is a core faculty member and former director of the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. A professor by courtesy of political science and sociology, Diamond teaches courses on global democratic development. His latest book, Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Democracy, builds upon four decades of democracy research, including numerous visits to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

“I have long been fascinated and awed by the cultural and ecological richness of Latin America, and deeply interested as a scholar in its challenges of democratic governance and its long history of complicated relations with the United States,” Larry reflects.  “And I have been gripped since I was a boy by the history of the building of the Panama Canal.  I can’t believe I have waited so many decades to see the Canal and experience Panama and its great natural beauty, but there is always a first time (or a second or third!) for anything so remarkable.”

During this program, which is his 15th trip as a Travel/Study faculty leader, and his second to Latin America, he will discuss the “exceptionalism” of Costa Rica’s experiences as a decades-long stable democracy, Panama’s pathway to liberal democracy, the history behind the building of the Panama Canal, and the contemporary challenges of governance and development in Latin America and how they relate to ecological sustainability.

• At Stanford: professor, by courtesy, of political science and sociology, since 1990; senior fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, since 2002; former director, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, 6+ years; senior fellow since 2001 and fellow since 1985, Hoover Institution

• Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, visiting lecturer in sociology, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, 1982–83

• Recipient: Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Award for Exceptional Service to Stanford University, 2016; Richard W. Lyman Award, Stanford Alumni Association, 2014; and Teacher of the Year Award, Associated Students of Stanford University, 2007

• BS, political organization and behavior, 1973; MA, Food Research Institute, 1978; PhD, sociology, 1980—all Stanford University