Reawakening the Spirit of Democracy

Description

Nativism and authoritarianism are gaining a foothold in countries around the globe. Populist movements are growing. Long established international alliances are fraying. Institutions that protect and promote our liberties are being buffeted by attacks from the left and right. These trends have led many to ask: Can liberal democracy endure?

"Reawakening the Spirit of Democracy" will address this question head-on.

Co-hosted by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the Renew Democracy Initiative, this conference will convene a diverse group of thought leaders from across both the political spectrum and the world who will examine and wrestle with the underlying threats to liberal democracy and propose strategies to reinvigorate it. Through vigorous debate and discussion, our panelists will model civil and productive discourse not only for the leaders of today but also for those who will chart the course for open societies in the future.

Panelists will examine the conditions leading to populist movements on the left and right in countries spanning the globe, the changing dynamics of political parties, the rise of disinformation and its impact on democratic societies, and the leadership role that the U.S. should play in supporting democracy around the world.

The event will be available via livestream broadcast on the Johns Hopkins Ustream channel. A full list of panel discussions and panelists is available online.

Speakers and panelists include:

• Yamiche Alcindor, correspondent for PBS NewsHour
• Anne Applebaum, Washington Post columnist
• Sheri Berman, professor of political science at Barnard College
• Max Boot, the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Donna Brazile, former interim chair, Democratic National Committee
• Eric Cantor, former House Majority Leader, a republican from Virginia
• Ben Cardin, U.S. senator from Maryland
• Evelyn Farkas, resident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund and founding partner of Scarlet Oak Advisors
• Bill Galston, chair and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
• Francisco González, associate professor of international political economy and Latin American politics, Johns Hopkins SAIS
• Jonathan Haidt, professor of ethical leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business
• Garry Kasparov, chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative
• Bill Kristol, founding director of Defending Democracy Together
• Mark Lasswell, associate op-ed editor of The Washington Post
• Edward Lucas, senior vice-president of the Center for European Policy Analysis
• Barbara Mikulski, former United States senator from Maryland
• Yascha Mounk, associate professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS and senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute
• Jennifer Rubin, opinion writer for The Washington Post
• Richard North Patterson, author, columnist, and former chairman of Common Cause
• Bret Stephens, New York Times columnist
• Pete Wehner, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times
• Paul Wolfowitz, former Deputy Secretary of Defense