Fall Colloquium: Envisioning Democratic Futures
October 10, 2024 |Ěý4:30 - 7:30 pm | Yawkey Center Murray Function room | Please to Attend | Hybrid Event
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After the fall of the Berlin Wall, democracy seemed destined to spread inexorably around the world. One generation later, many scholars see democracy as endangered or in urgent need of reform. While new challenges -- from climate change to the rise of AI -- threaten to radically disrupt global society, democratic political systems have come under increasing pressure from internal problems as well, not least resurgent populism, pervasive misinformation, and a growing disenchantment with democratic institutions. But if democracy’s future is riddled with obstacles, it also promises new possibilities. Might tomorrow’s technologies, for example, redress some of the problems that today’s have created? Could the climate crisis prompt a shift toward more democratic and sustainable forms of political economy? Will the global scale of today’s challenges spur greater citizen participation or enhance cooperation among democracies?
To engage these questions from a variety of angles, the Clough Center has dedicated the 2024-25 academic year to the theme “Envisioning Democratic Futures.” We launch our year-long exploration of that theme with our Fall Colloquium on October 10th, which features an exceptional set of speakers. The colloquium will open with a keynote address by (Yale), a political theorist renowned for her bold vision of a more radically participatory and deliberative democracy, and the potential of new technologies to create it. It will continue with a panel discussion featuring leading scholars (Harvard), (Harvard), and (Paris Peace Forum), on the present state and future prospects for democracy in the U.S. and around the world. Finally, the colloquium will close with a keynote presentation by the eminent journalist , CNN’s Chief National Correspondent, on the stakes and possible outcomes of the 2024 elections in the U.S.
Please join us for the Clough Center’s major event of the fall, and a worthwhile kickoff to our annual theme.
Speakers
Daniel Ziblatt
is the Eaton Professor of Government at Harvard University where he also serves as the director of Harvard’s University Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. Prof. Ziblatt leads a research group based in Germany at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.Ěý His research focuses on Europe and the comparative study of democracy. He is the author of four books, including How Democracies Die (2018), co-authored with Steven Levitsky, a New York Times best-seller described by The Economist magazine as “the most important book of the Trump era.” The book has been translated into thirty languages. In 2023, he published Tyranny of the Minority (also with Steven Levitsky), an analysis of American democracy in comparative perspective–and also a New York Times bestseller. Prior to this, Prof. Ziblatt was the author of the prize-winning book Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2017), a history of democracy in Europe, in addition to a book on European state-building entitled Structuring the State (Princeton University Press, 2006).Ěý In 2023, he was elected a member of the American Academy for Arts and Sciences.
Hélène Landemore
is a Professor of Political Science at Yale University with a specialization in political theory. Her research and teaching interests include, among other things, democratic theory, political epistemology, and the ethics and politics of artificial intelligence. Her recent work, Open Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2020), develops a new paradigm of democracy in which the exercise of power is as little gated as possible and explores a new version of popular rule where power is equally open to all. In 2021, with Jason Brennan, she also published Debating Democracy: Do We Need More or Less?, a comprehensive assessment of democracy’s present and possible futures around the world. Prof. Landemore is a fellow at the Ethics in AI Institute at the University of Oxford, and an advisor to the Democratic Inputs to AI program at OpenAI. She served on the Governance Committee of the most recent French Citizens’ Convention and is currently undertaking work supported by Schmidt Futures through the AI2050 program.
John King
is CNN’s award-winning Chief National Correspondent and an integral part of the network’s coverage of American government and politics. King joined CNN in May 1997 after 12 years at The Associated Press, the last six as its chief political correspondent. At CNN, King previously served as the anchor of CNN’s Inside Politics, a program featuring the top political stories sourced by the best reporters. Other CNN duties included 10 years covering the White House, serving as CNN’s senior White House correspondent from 1999 to 2006.
ĚýFor the 2024 presidential cycle, King will lead a new voter and battleground state project, “All Over the Map,” designed to cover the campaign through the eyes of everyday Americans. King will also play a prominent role in CNN’s coverage of major events, including debates, primary and caucus nights, the nominating conventions and Election Night.
King is a native of Boston and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Rhode Island. He has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from URI, American University and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Theda Skocpol
is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. Her research focuses on U.S. social policy and civic engagement in American democracy, including changes since the 1960s. Prof. Skocpol has recently launched new projects on the development of U.S. higher education and on the transformations of U.S. federal policies in the Obama era. Her work covers an unusually broad spectrum of topics including both comparative politics (States and Social Revolutions, 1979) and American politics (Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States, 1992). Her books and articles have been widely cited in political science literature and have won numerous awards, including the 1993 Woodrow Wilson Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book in political science. At Harvard, she has served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (2005-2007) and Director of the Center for American Political Studies (2000-2006). In 2007, Skocpol was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science for her “visionary analysis of the significance of the state for revolutions, welfare, and political trust, pursued with theoretical depth and empirical evidence.”
Campus Map and Parking
Parking is available at the nearby Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue Garages.
Boston College is also accessible via public transportation (MBTA B Line - Boston College).
Boston College strongly encourages conference participants to receive the COVID-19 vaccination before attending events on campus.