Dr. Theda Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. She uses historical and comparative methods to address questions about states, societies, and public politics. Having written extensively about the causes and outcomes of social revolutions and modern welfare states in Europe and North America, her work now focuses on current U. S. social politics, civic engagement and voluntary associations. She recently published Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: the Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States, which won five major scholarly awards, Boomerang: Clinton's Health Security Effort and The Turn Against Government in U. S. Politics.

The Margaret Chase Smith Library's 2000 annual Maine Town Meeting focused on "...Consent of the Governed:" Citizen Distrust and Civic Participation, a forum on the state of representative government. Skocpol said the decline of membership associations, such as women's clubs, veterans' and farm organizations, mirrors a decline in civic and democratic participation. Such groups as the Grange, American Legion, and Women's Suffrage Association, although locally based, had the power to shape national opinion. Such group membership levels are declining and smaller, narrowly-focused advocacy groups are increasing. Skocpol noted that political groups have shifted their focus from getting more people to the polls. Instead, their effort is in getting the "right" voters to the polls - those who will support their cause.