Professor Desmond King, University of Oxford, “America’s Racial Orders after Trump: White Protectionism versus Racial Reparations”

“Many thought the beginning of the twenty-first century and election of President Barack Obama would significantly dilute racial divisions in American politics. But the elections of 2016, 2020 and events such as the killing of George Floyd has in fact marked a resurgence of racial-based partisan polarization. Research about the shifting advocates and opponents of civil rights unearths two distinct policy coalitions – a white protectionist alliance and a distinct racial reparations alliance – now fundamental to U.S. politics.”

The Queen’s Annual Politics Lecture will be delivered by Professor Desmond King. Professor King is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Irish Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the British Academy. His authored books include, among many others, Making Americans: Immigration, Race and the Origins of the Diverse Democracy (Harvard University Press) and, with Rogers M Smith, Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama’s America (Princeton University Press).

Thursday 27 October 2022, 4-5.30pm. Doors open 3:30pm and seating for registered attendees will be on a first come, first served basis.

Lecture: 4-5pm

Discussion: 5-5.30pm, Chaired by Dr Stefan Andreasson.

Please complete this form to register by 2pm on Wednesday 26 October 2022. 

Professor Desmond King is the Andrew W Mellon Professor of American Government at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College. He holds a BA in Political and Social Science from Trinity College Dublin, an MA and a PhD in Political Science from Northwestern University, and a DLitt from the University of Oxford.

The Queen’s Annual Politics Lecture represent Politics and International Relations as an established and distinguished discipline at Queen’s University Belfast. The lecture showcases cutting edge research by world-leading scholars and practitioners whose expertise is widely disseminated and prominent in public discourses worldwide. In doing so it highlights their ground-breaking research and global engagement for the benefit of Queen’s students and staff, the wider Northern Ireland community and a global audience.

The Queen’s Annual Politics Lecture series is generously supported by the R M Jones Memorial Lecture Fund.