Conference: “America’s Contested Democratic Creed”

image of the US constitution with flames burning
Event time: 
Friday, February 28, 2025 at 9:00am through Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 12:30pm
Location: 
Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Room A002
77 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Google Maps
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED AT THIS LINK TO ATTEND
Event description: 

ISPS-SUPPORTED CONFERENCE EVENT

Understanding the nature, causes, and consequences of challenges to democracy in the United States is one of the most important tasks facing political science today. Over the past decade, more questions have been raised about the stability of our institutions and the robustness of Americans’ commitment to democratic norms than in any time in recent memory. A guiding theme of this conference is a conversation between Americanists and comparativists who work on democratic erosion.

This conference is open to Yale faculty, postdocs, postgrads, and graduate students, and registration is required at this link.

SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28:

time activity
8:30 AM Light breakfast available
9:15 AM Welcome & Opening Remarks
9:30 AM Resilient Democracies
  • Presenter: Carles Boix, Princeton University
  • Discussant: Greg Huber, Yale University
10:30 AM Coffee break
11:00 AM The Power of Vague Conspiracy Theories: Why Expansive Voter Fraud Theories Spread, Are Difficult to Refute, and Create Cycles of Distrust
  • Presenter: Justin Grimmer, Stanford University
  • Discussant: Arturas Rozenas, New York University
12:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM Exit, Voice, & Loyalty in Defense of Democratic Principles
  • Presenter: Matt Graham, Temple University
  • Discussant: Carlo Prato, Columbia University
2:00 PM Coffee break
2:30 PM Replacement or Realignment? Understanding the Racial-Partisan Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding in America
  • Presenter: Andrew Thompson, University of Pennsylvania
  • Discussant: Joshua Kalla, Yale University
3:30 PM Coffee break
4:00 PM Expression at the Edge: Free Speech Boundaries Amidst the Gaza Crisis
  • Presenter: Yphtach Lelkes, University of Pennsylvania
  • Discussant: Dan Mattingly, Yale University
5:00 PM Adjourn for the day

SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 1:

time activity
8:00 AM Light breakfast available
8:30 AM The U.S. Is Not So Exceptional: Inequality, Right-Wing Ethnonationalism, and the Erosion of Democracy
  • Presenter: Susan Stokes, The University of Chicago
  • Discussant: Shiro Kuriwaki, Yale University
9:30 AM Coffee break
10:00 AM Charisma and Democracy
  • Presenter: Rocio Titiunik, Princeton University
  • Discussant: Adam Przeworski, New York University
11:00 AM Coffee break
11:30 AM The Power of Spectacle: Elite Narratives, Cost of Dissent, and Democratic Backsliding
  • Presenter: Kristian Frederiksen, Aarhus University
  • Discussant: Milan Svolik, Yale University
12:30 PM Closing remarks and open discussion over lunch

Generously funded by the Institution for Social and Policy Studies Conference Funding Initiative, and by The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale with support from the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Fund

Open to: 
Yale Community Only