Josiah Ober is the author of “The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece.” He has written extensively on the history and practice of self-governing organizations (both ancient and modern), on the circulation of knowledge in democratic societies and on the interplay between political philosophy and culture. Ober holds the Mitsotakis Chair at Stanford University, where he divides his time between the departments of classics and political science. He previously taught at Princeton and at Montana State University.