Larry Diamond

Diamond obtained a B.A. in political organization and behavior in 1974, an M.A. from the Food Research Institute in 1978, and a Ph.D. in sociology in 1980, all from Stanford.{{cite web|url=https://diamond-democracy.stanford.edu/about/cv|title=Larry Diamond – C.V.|website=Stanford University|date=n.d.|access-date=29 June 2020}}

Diamond was assistant professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University (1980–1985).{{cite web |title=Larry Diamond |url=http://www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond |access-date=29 October 2018 |website=Stanford.edu}} He was founding co-director of the National Endowment for Democracy's International Forum for Democratic Studies (1994–2009).

Among the many governmental and nongovernmental agencies that he has advised, Diamond served as a consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2002 to 2003.{{Cite web |title=Larry Diamond's Profile {{!}} Stanford Profiles |url=https://profiles.stanford.edu/larry-diamond |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=profiles.stanford.edu |language=en}}

Diamond was named Stanford's "Teacher of the Year" in May 2007.{{Cite web |title=Larry Diamond, Hoover Senior Fellow, Named Teacher of the Year by Associated Students of Stanford University |url=https://www.hoover.org/press-releases/larry-diamond-hoover-senior-fellow-named-teacher-year-associated-students-stanford |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=Hoover Institution |language=en}} At the June 2007 commencement ceremonies he was awarded the Dinkelspiel Award for Distinctive Contributions to Undergraduate Education. Among the many reasons for Diamond to receive this award it was cited that he fostered dialogue between Jewish and Muslim students.{{Cite web |title=Hoover Institution’s Larry Diamond honored with Stanford University Dinkelspiel Award for teaching |url=https://www.hoover.org/press-releases/hoover-institutions-larry-diamond-honored-stanford-university-dinkelspiel-award |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=Hoover Institution |language=en}}

He was the dissertation adviser for Regina Ip, former Secretary for Security of Hong Kong during her years at Stanford.{{cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HG14Ad01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717232919/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HG14Ad01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=17 July 2006|title= 'Iron Ladies' resurface in Hong Kong|website=Atimes.com|access-date=29 October 2018}}

In 2022, Diamond joined Yermak-McFaul Expert Group on Russian Sanctions as an expert to work on elaborating and imposing international sanctions against Russia which invaded Ukraine.{{Cite web |title=Sanctions endgame: what the Yermak-McFaul group is preparing – News |url=https://newsreadonline.com/sanctions-endgame-what-the-yermak-mcfaul-group-is-preparing/ |access-date=2022-07-27 |website=newsreadonline.com}}

In early 2004, Diamond was a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

His book Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, published in 2005, was one of the first public critical analyses of America's post-invasion of Iraq strategy.{{cite web|url=http://www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond/bio.html|title=Larry Diamond Bio|website=Stanford.edu|access-date=29 October 2018}}

Despite the surge of democracy throughout the world up until the 1990s, Diamond believes democracy must improve where it already exists before it can spread to other countries.{{cite book|last=Diamond|first=Larry|title=Essential Readings in Comparative Politics: The Democratic Rollback: The Resurgence of the Predatory State|year=2004|publisher=Norton & Company|location=New York}} He believes solving a country's governance, rather than its economy, is the answer. Every democratic country needs to be held responsible for good governance, not just when it suits them. Without significant improvements in governance, economic growth will not be sustainable. As Diamond stated in his book, The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World, "for democratic structures to endure – and be worthy of endurance – they must listen to their citizens' voices, engage their participation, tolerate their protests, protect their freedoms, and respond to their needs."{{cite book|last=Diamond|first=Larry|title=The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World|year=2008|publisher=Henry Holt and Company, LLC|location=New York}}

Diamond has written and edited many pieces on the growth of democracy and its current recession on an international level. In his paper "The Democratic Rollback: The Resurgence of the Predatory State," Diamond states that one of the main reasons for this recession in democracy is a surge of young democratic countries which employ rigged elections, intense intimidation of any opposing political party, and unstoppable expansion in executive power. What makes it worse is that many of these countries are still being accepted as democracies by western states. He cites Vladimir Putin in Russia and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela as examples. Due to the growth of these corrupted semi-democracies, which Diamond calls electoral authoritarianism, there has been a worldwide fall in the confidence in democracy, especially in developing countries.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Unlike many other political scientists, Diamond doesn't hold economic development, or lack thereof, as the number one factor in the decline of democracy. Diamond states that the efficiency of the government is the first problem. If the government cannot provide a safe and equal economic and political playing field then any work in promoting economic development will be useless. He cites the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki as an example. Kibaki helped Kenya reach some of its highest levels of economic growth but failed to address massive corruption, which led to claims of fraud in his 2007 presidential election, which in turn exploded into violence.{{cite book|last1=O'Neil|first1=Patrick H.|last2=Rogowski|first2= Ronald|title=Essential Readings in Comparative Politics|year=2010|publisher=W.W. Norton &, 2010|location=New York|isbn=978-0-393-93401-4}}

Diamond believes if governance is not improved in democratic states, people will turn to authoritarian alternatives. This will then lead to predatory states. Predatory states produce predatory societies: people do not gain wealth and a better quality of life through ways beneficial to the entire country, but get rich by taking advantage of power and privilege, by stealing from the state, and diminishing the power of the law. In order to ensure predatory states do not occur, institutions must be put in place to establish control and order.

So that democracy can be revived, and sustained, throughout the world, the U.S. and other developed countries must play their part. The U.S. should primarily give financial aid to countries that are using the money to further develop their governance.{{cite news|url=https://www.newsweek.com/doing-democracy-promotion-right-82937|last=Diamond|first=Larry|title=Doing Democracy Promotion Right|date=December 30, 2008|access-date=15 June 2011|newspaper=Newsweek}} This selectivity is defined in the Millennium Challenge Account (part of Bush's foreign policy). Under this policy, it says a country will receive aid dependent on "whether they rule justly, whether they invest in basic health care and education, and whether they promote economic freedom." The important thing to remember is promoting democracy will take time and effort.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Library resources box|by=yes|about=no}}

• Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency, Penguin Press, 2019 {{ISBN|978-0525560623}}
• In Search of Democracy, Routledge, 2016
• The Spirit of Democracy, Times Books, 2008
• Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, Owl Books, 2005, {{ISBN|0-8050-7868-1}}
• Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999
• Promoting Democracy in the 1990s, Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, 1995
• Class, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Nigeria, Syracuse University Press, 1988
• {{Cite book |last=Milani |first=Abbas |title=Politics and Culture in Contemporary Iran: Challenging the Status Quo |last2=Diamond |first2=Larry Jay |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |year=2015 |isbn=9781626371477 |location=Boulder, CO |author-link=Abbas Milani}}

• Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries
• {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6RsLDAAAQBAJ |title=Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2016 |isbn=9781421419985 |editor-last=Diamond |editor-first=Larry |editor-last2=Plattner |editor-first2=Marc F. |editor-last3=Walker |editor-first3=Christopher}}
• Democracy in Decline?, with Marc F. Plattner
• Democratization and Authoritarianism in the Arab World, with Marc F. Plattner
• Will China Democratize?, with Andrew J. Nathan and Marc F. Plattner
• Democracy in East Asia: A New Century, with Yun-han Chu and Marc F. Plattner
• Liberation Technology: Social Media and the Struggle for Democracy, with Marc F. Plattner
• Politics and Culture in Contemporary Iran, with Abbas Milani
• Democracy in Developing Countries, four-volume series, with Juan J. Linz and Seymour Martin Lipset

• {{Cite news |last=Milani |first=Abbas |author-link=Abbas Milani |last2=Diamond |first2=Larry |date=July 6, 2009 |title=Let's Hear the Democracies |work=The New York Times |type=Op-ed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/opinion/07iht-edmilani.html |issn=1553-8095}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond Larry Diamond Biography] provided by Stanford University
• [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/7697178 Larry Diamond papers, 1969-1977], at Stanford University
• [https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/no-exit-strategy/ "No Exit Strategy"] – David Rieff reviews Diamond's book in The Nation magazine.
• {{C-SPAN|20895}}

;Interviews

• [http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://streaming.scmp.com/podcasting/upload/news_today_september19.mp3 South China Morning Post podcast] in which Larry Diamond shares his views on Hong Kong political reforms in a podcast interview with [http://www.scmp.com scmp.com] reporter, James Moore, on September 19, 2006. Interview 3mins 43secs into podcast.

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Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:Stanford University alumni

Category:Stanford University faculty

Category:Vanderbilt University faculty

Category:Hoover Institution people

Category:American political scientists

Category:American sociologists

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs