Thursday, September 3
6:30 p.m. (ET) (Livestream)
About the APSA President, Susan Stokes »

Thursday, September 3
2:00 p.m. (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers »

The 250 years since the United States declared independence have been marked by continuous political struggle over the values, boundaries, identity, and status of the U.S. polity. This ebb and flow of political contestation has had striking and significant consequences, both for denizens within the U.S. and for people all over the world. This panel brings together leading scholars and thinkers to examine what the journey of U.S. democracy might teach us. Culling insights from across subfields we consider how US democracy has developed, what it has wrought both domestically and globally, how it compares to other polities, and what lessons we should carry into a precarious and uncertain future.

Friday, September 4
10:00 a.m. (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers »

Democratic backsliding is now unfolding within long-stable Western democracies once treated as reference cases for democratic stability, even as the international order that underwrote it is dismantled, decentralized financial technologies test states’ control over money and capital, and climate change demands global solutions. This panel asks whether these developments are parallel crises or manifestations of a single, deeper transformation — one in which domestic political order, international power, and the material conditions of governance are newly entangled. Do backsliding, geopolitical realignment, and environmental crisis share common causes, or do they merely compound one another? Do we need new theoretical frameworks and epistemological commitments to make sense of this moment? In answering these questions, the panel aims not simply to catalogue the threats democracy faces, but to ask what kind of intellectual reorientation — theoretical, methodological, and normative — this moment demands.

Friday, September 4
4:00 p.m. (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers »

Academic freedom is under threat in the United States. Faculty have been targeted by their universities, the media, powerful political leaders, and individuals in the broader public. This has engendered increasing and legitimate concern that expressing certain views or conducting research on some issues leaves faculty vulnerable to harassment. This panel gathers faculty and university leaders to critically reflect on the implications of the current moment for academic freedom. Panelists will consider what academic freedom is, why it is important for high quality research and teaching, what threats it currently faces, and how universities can protect it.

Saturday, September 5
10:00 a.m. (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers »

The world is navigating a wave of autocratization. In 2026, V-Dem reported that Liberal Democracy in the world had receded to 1995 levels, and the trend does not seem to be improving. What role can academia, political science especially, play in addressing this? How can academics and practitioners work together to oppose the erosion of democracy? This panel features academics and practitioners critically discussing what Political Science can or should be doing in a backsliding world.