Wesson Lectures

Each year, the Center brings to Stanford a notable scholar to deliver a set of lectures pertaining to problems in democratic theory and practice. These lectures are endowed by the late Robert Wesson, a political scientist and Hoover Institute Fellow who studied Soviet society. Dr. Wesson hoped that these lectures would help students, scholars and community members think through important public issues related to democratic governance, such as the role of money in elections, the obligations of representatives to their constituents, and the place of discussion and debate in democratic politics.

This lecture series is one public aspect of the Center that seeks to address social and moral questions broadly in research and teaching, and to motivate our students to take these questions up as engaged citizens. Over the years, we have assembled an outstanding range of thinkers to address the problems and challenges of democracy and today the Wesson lectures are one of the most prestigious lecture series at Stanford University.