Giuseppe Di Palma is emeritus professor of Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1964. He has written on political behaviour (Apathy and Participation, 1970), on Italian politics (Surviving without Governing, 1977), on transitions to democracy, and on democratic theory (To Craft Democracies, 1990). In the years since his retirement he has turned his attention to the American political system and American politics, and to the role of ideas and narratives in politics.