ABOUT THE EVENT
A populist and illiberal tide is gaining strength across the globe, posing a serious threat to liberal democracy. Prominent political scientists and commentators William A. Galston and Yascha Mounk discussed the factors fueling populism’s rise and how democracies can effectively respond. Both Galston and Mounk have written articles addressing these questions that appear in the April 2018 issue of the Journal of Democracy. We also celebrated the appearance of newly published books by each of these authors: Galston’s Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy (Yale University Press) and Mounk’s The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It (Harvard University Press).
Featuring:
- William A. Galston, Author, Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy
- Yascha Mounk, Author, The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger & How to Save It
Moderated by
- Marc F. Plattner, Editor, Journal of Democracy
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
William A. Galston holds the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program, where he serves as a senior fellow. A former advisor to President Clinton and several presidential candidates, Galston is an expert on domestic policy, political campaigns, and elections. His current research focuses on populism and the implications of political polarization. He is also College Park Professor at the University of Maryland. A weekly columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Galston is also the author of eight books and more than 100 articles in the fields of political theory, public policy, and American politics. His earlier books include The Practice of Liberal Pluralism (2004) and Public Matters (2005).
Yascha Mounk is a lecturer on political theory at Harvard University’s Government Department and a senior fellow at New America’s Political Reform Program. Mounk’s primary research interests lie in political theory and comparative politics. His essays on the rise of populism and the growing openness of citizens of democratic countries to authoritarian alternatives have been published in the Journal of Democracy and in Foreign Affairs, among other publications. Mounk’s writings on European and U.S. politics have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Die Zeit, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. His previous book was The Age of Responsibility: Luck, Choice and the Welfare State (2017).
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