The Center for Critical Democracy Studies (CCDS)

The Center for Critical Democracy Studies (CCDS) promotes the practice, study and life of democracy both within and beyond the University. The Center builds on AUP’s mission to educate global citizens by exploring fundamental and practical questions of emancipatory political life through talks, conferences and lectures with international guests; sponsorship of courses and events across campus; and its publication of The Tocqueville Review/La Revue Tocqueville.

The Center for Critical Democracy Studies fosters an interdisciplinary approach to questions of democracy. Purposely aligned with AUP's liberal arts curriculum, the Center encourages all fields from the natural and environmental sciences to the social sciences and humanities to explore democracy as a social state, a political regime or a form of agency. Center-sponsored research is global, inter- and trans-disciplinary. The Center publishes The Tocqueville Review/La Revue Tocqueville and “Tocqueville21" and organizes conferences and events around key themes of democracy's past, present and future. The Center sponsors scholars-in-residence to give talks, pedagogy seminars for faculty and student workshops. It further develops pedagogical initiatives designed to foster critical thinking on the history, theory and practice of democracy.

The Center for Critical Democracy Studies (CCDS) is led by the Center's Director, Ballantine-Leavitt Professor of History, Stephen Sawyer, and supported by faculty from The American University of Paris, including professors Julian Culp, Peter Hagel, Sofia Valeonti, and Roman Zinigrad.