The health of democracy around the world is widely seen as being in decline. Many countries are seeing a surge in authoritarian leadership, support for extremist parties, weakening institutional checks and balances, and crackdowns on freedom of protest. The second Trump administration in the United States has spotlighted these trends, raising fundamental questions about the future of democracy. What are some of the root causes of the global democratic backsliding? What role do domestic and international courts play in upholding the rule of law? How can individuals and activists organise amidst restrictions on freedom of movement and assembly? What can be done to strengthen democratic systems?

Meet the speakers 

• Prof Brian Klaas, Professor of Global Politics at School of European Languages, Culture and Society-Centre for Multidisciplinary and Intercultural Inquiry (SELCS-CMII), UCL 
• Dr Malu Gatto, Associate Professor of Latin American Politics at the Institute of the Americas, UCL. 
• Dr Michal Ovádek, Assistant Professor in European Institutions, Politics and Policy, at the Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy, UCL. 
• Prof Tarun Khaitan, Professor (Chair) of Public Law at LSE Law School 
• Dr Katharina Lawall, Lecturer in Comparative Politics at University of Reading. 

Chair: Prof Alan Renwick, Professor of Democratic Politics in the UCL Department of Political Science, and Deputy Director of the UCL Constitution Unit. Mentioned in the disucssion: 

• Killing a Constitution with a Thousand Cuts: Executive Aggrandizement and Party-state Fusion in India, https://www.degruyterbrill.com/docume... 
• Care conscription as a progressive answer to the belonging question https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpo... 
• Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us https://share.google/7oRtyidNA1AOO7f6O 
•  Resistance to Gender Quotas in Latin America https://share.google/u3HkdbxmzEgCwPCoN 

Recorded 2 October 2025