In collaboration with the Democracy and Autocracy Section of the American Political Science Association, we organize an ongoing series of public events and roundtables. In each, we aim at bringing together perspectives from inside and outside academia to discuss currently relevant topics related to authoritarian politics.

Future Events

Stay tuned!

Past Events

APSA Roundtable: “US Democratic Decline and Its Implications for International Politics”

Friday, September 4, 2026 APSA Annual Meeting and Exhibition.

Description

Scholars of democracy and autocracy widely agree that the United States has experienced significant democratic backsliding under the second Trump administration. Trump and the Republican Party have dramatically expanded executive power, eroded civil liberties, attacked political opposition, and sought to reduce the competitiveness of upcoming elections. These domestic political developments have also reverberated abroad, sparking both backlash and support for far-right parties in other countries, and unleashing a more aggressive US foreign policy that has shaped conflicts and upended the international economy from Latin America and Europe to the Middle East and Asia.

This roundtable, co-organized by the Democracy and Autocracy Section Executive Board and the Authoritarian Political Systems Group (APSG), gathered a selected group of scholars with expertise in democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and various world regions to discuss these developments and where they may lead in the future. They discussed how democratic backsliding has unfolded in the United States, why it has occurred so rapidly, and whether it will generate backlash or authoritarian consolidation. They also discussed ongoing and future consequences for international politics, considering the likely effects on international conflicts and economics, as well as the potential impact on democratic resilience in other countries.

The participants in the roundtable were Sharan Grewal (American University), Anna Gryzmala-Busse (Stanford University), Steven Levitsky (Harvard University), Jennifer McCoy (Georgia State University), Thomas Pepinsky (Cornell University), Lauren Prather (UCSD), and Scott Williamson (University of Oxford). Between them, these scholars brought expertise in democratic backsliding and authoritarianism combined with detailed knowledge of Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Several of them also have affiliations with think tanks (e.g., the Brookings Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), giving them insights into how policymakers and politicians have reacted to developments in DC and around the world.

The roundtable was chaired by Emilia Simison (Queen Mary University, APSG) and co-organized with Scott Williamson (Oxford, Chair of the Democracy and Autocracy Section) and Fabio Angiolillo (Notre Dame University, APSG).

Virtual Roundtable: “Attacks on Media Freedom During Democratic Decline”

The roundtable was co-organized by Scott Williamson (APSA Democracy and Autocracy Section) and APSG core members Fabio Angiolillo, Emilia Simison, and Felix Wiebrecht.