Stanford University professor Larry Diamond, an expert in the development of democracy in poor nations around the world, will speak at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law Monday, April 24, as part of the Rushton Lecture Series.

He will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the moot court room of Robinson Hall, the law building, on "Promoting Democracy in the Middle East? Iraq and Beyond." The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Diamond is senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, and founding co-editor of the Journal of Democracy. During the first three months of 2004, he served as senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. He describes the experience in his recently published book, Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. 

Diamond has lectured, taught and conducted research in 25 countries over the past 30 years. He is the author of four books and the editor or co-editor of more than 25 books including the series Democracy in Developing Countries.

At Stanford, he is also professor of political science and sociology and coordinator of the democracy program of the new Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. During 2002-03, he was a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development and was a contributing author of its report, Foreign Aid in the National Interest.