����vlog����

Democratic backsliding has become a growing concern worldwide, affecting countries that were once considered stable democracies. While the process varies across regions, common patterns emerge—executive overreach, judicial capture, restrictions on civil liberties, and weakening democratic institutions. Some societies have successfully resisted backsliding, while others have struggled to contain it. What lessons can be learned from these experiences?

This four-part series gathers leading scholars and activists to examine the dynamics of democratic backsliding, and the strategies employed to resist it. The series will investigate, through comparative case studies and evidence-based research, how democracies decline, how opposition movements and institutions have reacted, and what insights can be drawn to protect democracy better. The discussions will also help frame an ongoing project at the Nonviolent Action Lab to develop strategies to counter democratic backsliding and strengthen resistance efforts worldwide.  

Session One: Thursday, April 3rd from 3 – 4 PM (Ash Center Seminar Room 225)

Pro-democracy Organizing against Autocracy: A Strategic Assessment & Recommendations

This session will introduce key frameworks for analyzing democratic erosion and how to confront it, with a focus on the United States as a case study to contextualize broader trends. This session will be led by speakers Erica Chenoweth, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment and Director of the Nonviolent Action Lab at the Ash Center, and Steven Levitsky, Professor of Government at Harvard University and co-author of .

Paper link: “Pro-democracy Organizing Against Autocracy in the United States,” 2022 working paper authored by Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks.

Event Details:

This seminar series will consist of four sessions. Attendees are not required to attend each session, but we strongly encourage those who are interested in contributing to the broader project to attend multiple discussions. Registration is required, and you must register individually for each session that you plan to attend. This seminar is in-person and open to Harvard ID holders. Please register using your Harvard email address.

Following the series, we will hold an additional discussion with those who have participated in most sessions to gather further input and collaboratively draft key lessons learned. This will help shape a broader effort to develop strategies for countering democratic backsliding as part of an ongoing project at the Nonviolent Action Lab.