DPIR to host public conference on ‘Backsliding and Resilience in Liberal Democracies’
DPIR will play host to a major conference, organised by DPIR’s Professor Giovanni Capoccia and Professor Petra Schleiter, on the current crisis facing liberal democracies.
Participants include: Stathis Kalyvas (Oxford); Ivan Ermakoff (Wisconsin); Isabela Mares (Yale); Vicente Valentim (Oxford); Adam Smith (Oxford); Justin Grimmer (Stanford); Lonna Atkeson (Florida); Susan Stokes (Chicago); Andrea Ruggeri (Oxford); Robert Lieberman (Johns Hopkins); Melis Laebens (Oxford); Marcin Slarzynski (Oxford); David Bateman (Cornell); Stephan Haggard (UC San Diego).
The conference responds to growing literature on democratic backsliding which has documented the retreat of democracy worldwide, including in Western liberal democracies; from the rise of right-wing movements in Europe, to the authoritarian style of Donald Trump’s reign and his consequent campaign undermine the democratic 2021 US presidential election.
Three panel discussions will each focus on a key theme:
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confronting illiberalism in liberal democracies;
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restrictions to democratic participation and representation; and
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sources and strategies of democratic resilience.
Contributions will focus on the responses of liberal democratic governments to illiberal and populist oppositions, on the different aspects of democratic backsliding, and on the resources available to pro-democratic forces.
The one-day event will take place from 10am to 5.30pm on Saturday 21 May and is free of charge and open to all. It will be held both in person (in the Lecture Theatre of DPIR’s Manor Road Building) and online via Zoom.
