
Defending Democracy
2023-25 Theme of Inquiry
Join us in exploring the crisis of democracy in the United States by reckoning with problems and considering solutions.
Events

4:00–5:30 p.m.
Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He also chairs the Hoover Institution Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region and is the principal investigator of the Global Digital Policy Incubator, part of Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center. Diamond has served as a consultant to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and advised and lectured to the World Bank, the United Nations, the State Department, and other agencies dealing with governance and development. His books include In Search of Democracy (2016), and The Spirit of Democracy (2008). He has edited or coedited some fifty books on democratic development around the world.
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a faculty member of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. He is also director of Stanford's Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy. Fukuyama has written widely on issues in development and international politics. His 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man, has appeared in over twenty foreign editions. His latest book, Liberalism and Its Discontents, was published in May 2022.
This event is sponsored by the School of Global Studies and Languages, Global Studies Institute in the Division of Global Engagement, Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, and the Department of Political Science.
Free and open to the public.

3:00–4:30 p.m.
Join us for the annual Wayne Morse Chair Address featuring Danielle Allen, 2024-25 Wayne Morse Chair. Allen is a political theorist, professor at Harvard University and an advocate for democracy. Her acclaimed book, Our Declaration, offers a profound analysis of American democratic principles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Allen contributed crucial insights on equitable policy responses and effective governance. Allen received the Kluge Prize, which recognizes work in disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prizes, in 2020. In 2022, she ran for Governor of Massachusetts, emphasizing the need for systemic reform and inclusivity in state government. She writes a column on constitutional democracy for the Washington Post.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics as part of its 2023-25 theme, Defending Democracy. Cosponsored by the UO Office of the President.
Videos of recent events
Peter DeFazio Annual Lecture: What Does It Mean to Defend Democracy Now? with E.J. Dionne
Can Non Profit Organizations do Political and Policy Advocacy? Featuring Mark Sidel
Finding Hope in Dark Times For Democracy, with Frances Moore Lappé
View more videos on our YouTube channel