In their new book, Keeping the Republic: A Defense of American Constitutionalism (University Press of Kansas, 2024), BC Professors of Political Science Dennis Hale and Marc Landy examine why the United States Constitution has come under fire throughout its history. Frustrated with perceived obstacles to achieving political or legislative aims, critics—from statesmen and pundits to ordinary citizens—complain that an obsolete or undemocratic Constitution hampers the process of governing. Landy and Hale argue that, by placing effective limits on the exercise of power, the Constitution is simply doing the job it was created to do: providing for a free government. According to Keeping the Republic, the key to the Constitution is that it establishes a republic, not a democracy—perhaps an underappreciated nuance but an important one, in that a republic guards individual rights against the will of the majority. The Constitution builds incentive to reach and broaden coalitions, say the authors. Keeping the Republic is the first book co-authored by Hale and Landy, longtime colleagues who have been friends since their undergraduate years at Oberlin College. Read more in BC News.