Steven Levitsky

Steven Levitsky

Background

Steven Levitsky "is Professor of Government at Harvard University. His research interests include political parties, authoritarianism and democratization, and weak and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. He is author of Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (2003), co-author (with Lucan Way) of Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (2010), and co-editor of Argentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness (2005); Informal Institutions and Democracy: Lessons from Latin America (2006); and The Resurgence of the Left in Latin America (2011). He is currently engaged in research on the durability of revolutionary regimes, the relationship between populism and competitive authoritarianism, problems of party-building in contemporary Latin America, and party collapse and its consequences for democracy in Peru."

LRS controversy

Stanford Daily editors met 22 May 1990 with more than 70 members of campus groups to discuss Friday's coverage of two related articles about the League of Revolutionary Struggle. Members of the Asian American Student Association, ASSU Committee on Democracy in Education, Black Student Union, MEChA, Stanford Central American Action Network, Stanford American Indian Organization and others expressed discontent with The Daily's coverage at the tense 40-minute meeting. Editor in Chief John Wagner told the audience, "It is a learning process for us to listen to your ideas. . . . We are interested in what you have to say." Sunday, AASA members requested a meeting with Daily editors, and Wagner agreed. One article centered on an anonymous poster distributed around campus Thursday. The flier accused Gordon Chang, who is considering coining to Stanford as a tenured professor in Asian American studies, of being a leader of the League

Judy Wu, an AASA officer, drew loud applause when she said, "I for one have fought for Asian American studies because I believe in it. I was not duped and I don't think anyone else was." Senior Steven Levitsky of Stanford Central American Action Network said the juxtaposition of the two stories "legitimizes the message of the flier."

"All year long students of color have been under attack on this campus, and it is really paralyzing our communities," said Ana Mata, co-chair of MEChA. "Any relations that The Daily had with MEChA are ruined" because of the innuendo in the article, she said. Masao Suzuki, a graduate student in economics, asked heatedly near the end of the meeting, "Does The Daily know about the type of McCarthyism that went on in the 1950s?" Valerie Mih, an AASA officer and an at-large member of The Daily's editorial board, said, "The Daily has to do more than give a meeting. ... A correction should be given the same exposure as original misinformation."