Demos Rising: Democracy and the Popular Construction of Public Authority, 1800-1850

YLS ELA is pleased to welcome Professor Stephen W. Sawyer (The American University of Paris and Harvard University) for a conversation with Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman on his latest book (The University Of Chicago Press, 2025), which explores the concept of the demos in the French government between 1800 and 1850.

The central claim of the book is that a genuine demos became possible in France only with the development of government regulation and administration. Examining the period between 1800 and 1850, Sawyer argues that solutions to challenges such as deforestation, urbanization, health crises, labor relations, industrial capitalism, religious tensions, and imperial expansion were sought—and sometimes found—not through elections, as one might assume, but through the “care for all” promised by modern administrative power, regulatory intervention, and social welfare programs. For Sawyer, studying this profound transformation in governance allows us to better understand the origin and meaning of democracy—even at a time when the concept is increasingly called into question.

Non-pizza lunch served.

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Doruk Erhan