{"id":2376,"date":"2026-07-01T17:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/?page_id=2376"},"modified":"2026-07-30T16:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:45:17","slug":"plenary-panels","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/plenary-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenary Panels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Attend APSA 2026 Plenary Panels<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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122nd APSA Presidential Address<\/strong><\/strong>: \u201cThe University in an Era of Democratic Erosion<\/strong>\u201d
Susan Stokes, University of Chicago, APSA President<\/em>
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Thursday, September 3<\/strong>
6:30 p.m.<\/strong> (ET) (Livestream)
About the APSA President, Susan Stokes \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2026 Plenary Panel:<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>
U.S. Democracy at 250: How It Started, How It\u2019s Going, and What We\u2019ve Learned<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, September 3<\/strong>
2:00 p.m.<\/strong> (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers \u00bb<\/a>

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Breaking News Panel: <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>
The State of the World: Democracy, Power, and Uncertainty in the Face of Simultaneous Crises<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Friday, September 4<\/strong>
10:00 a.m.<\/strong> (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers \u00bb<\/a>

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 \u2014 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 \u2014 theoretical, methodological, and normative \u2014 this moment demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Breaking News Panel: <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>
Academic Freedom in Fraught Times: Why We Need It and How We Can Fight for It<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Friday, September 4<\/strong>
4:00 p.m.<\/strong> (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers \u00bb<\/a>

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Breaking News Panel: <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>
Political Science in a Backsliding World: How Can Scholars Help Protect Democracy?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, September 5<\/strong>
10:00 a.m.<\/strong> (ET) (Livestream)
About the Speakers \u00bb<\/a>

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View More in the Online Program \u00bb<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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122nd APSA Presidential Address: \u201cThe University in an Era of Democratic Erosion\u201dSusan Stokes, University of Chicago, APSA President Thursday, September 36:30 p.m. (ET) (Livestream)About the APSA President, Susan Stokes \u00bb 2026 Plenary Panel:U.S. Democracy at 250: How It Started, How It\u2019s Going, and What We\u2019ve Learned Thursday, September 32:00 p.m. (ET) (Livestream)About the Speakers \u00bb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25307,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2376","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/apsa2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}