Is There a Crisis of Democracy, and How Should Democracies Respond?

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Is There a Crisis of Democracy, and How Should Democracies Respond?

This panel will assess and respond to the arguments in Larry Diamond’s forthcoming book, Ill Winds: Saving Democracy From Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency (Penguin, June 2019). Ill Winds identifies a deepening crisis of democracy globally and in the United States, with the rise of authoritarian (or illiberal) populism, increasing democratic dysfunction and polarization in the United States, Russian and (in different ways) Chinese penetration and subversion of democratic institutions and liberal global norms, and the broad American retreat from the world under Donald Trump. The first half of the book analyzes these trends, and also considers how social media are abetting and intensifying these democratic ills. It also evaluates public attitudes toward democracy around the world, finding a somewhat more hopeful story. The second half of the book outlines a strategy for reversing the ill winds that are chilling freedom and democracy worldwide. These chapters propose policies to counter Russian and Chinese sharp power projection, rein in kleptocratic flows of illicit money and influence across borders, relieve some of the pathologies of social media, revive American foreign policy and public diplomacy to defend global democratic norms, and reform and renew American democratic institutions.
After a very brief introductory presentation by the author, the following panelists will respond to different aspects of the book’s analysis and policy recommendations:

Steven Levitsky, Professor of Government, Harvard, will chair the panel and critically assess arguments about the global recession of democracy and the decay of democratic norms in the U.S.

Sheri Berman, Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University will assess the trends with respect to democracy and populism in Western Europe and the book’s arguments about contemporary processes of democratic decay and dissolution.

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, will assess the trends with respect to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, the response of the EU, and the arguments in the book about kleptocracy (extreme, globalized corruption) and how to combat it.

John Mearsheimer, Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, will offer a critical realist perspective on the book’s arguments about the impact on global democracy of sharp power projection and great power competition from Russia and China, and the book’s liberal internationalist recommendations for renewed efforts to promote democracy.

Bruce Cain, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, will assess the book’s analysis of what ails American democracy and its recommendations for reforms to reduce political polarization and improve the functionality of American democracy.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 44: Comparative Democratization

Chair

• Steven Levitsky Harvard University

Presenters

• John J. Mearsheimer University of Chicago

• Sheri Berman Barnard College, Columbia University

• Bruce E. Cain Stanford University

• Alina Mungiu-Pippidi

• Larry Diamond Stanford University