Sidney Verba, whose pioneering research comparing political behavior among the world’s democracies became a classic book among students of politics, died on March 4 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. …
Not all of the book’s conclusions proved correct, however.
“As education spread, we, and many other scholars of that period, expected that a new, more secular and rational world would emerge,” Professor Verba wrote in 2011. “The roles of religious, ethnic, and racial identity would diminish, and so would the incidence of clashes based on such characteristics, creating a more peaceful and democratic world. Looking back 50 years, it is clear that the prediction was wrong.” CONT.
Sam Roberts, New York Times