Presented by The Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, in partnership with the The Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at Wharton, and Penn’s Office of Information Security (OIS).

FULL AUDIO OF THE EVENT, BROADCAST ON WHYY, AVAILABLE HERE

U.S. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY HAS ALWAYS ENCOMPASSED A DEEP-ROOTED AVERSION to any form of foreign interference against the country’s democratic institutions. But today, the threat is astonishing. Rapid advances in technology, interconnected global communications, flattening of in-person social interactions, creation of social media “bubbles,” and anonymized financial networks have fed and resulted in effective foreign interference efforts on a scale and scope not seen before…and that many believe are outpacing U.S. counter-efforts.

A distinguished panel will examine these crucial issues. Moderated by Trudy Rubin, award-winning foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, the panelists include:

• Raymond Baker, President of Global Financial Integrity and internationally renowned authority on dark money
• Mitchell Orenstein, Department Chair of Russian and Eastern European Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania 
• Shawn Turner, Director of Communication for Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a former senior national security communication executive in the U.S. government, and a regular contributing on-air national security analyst with CNN
• Clint Watts, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI); author of Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News; and frequent MSNBC commentator.
  
  

Is Immigration Good or Bad for Democracy?

Co-sponsored by The Penn-Temple European Studies Colloquium and Penn Africana Studies

FULL VIDEO OF THE EVENT AVAILABLE HERE
ESSAYS BY PANELISTS AVAILABLE HERE

P.J. Brendese, Johns Hopkins University
Ariane Chebel D’Appollonia, Sciences Po and Rutgers University
Elizabeth F. Cohen, Syracuse University
Moderator: Osman Balkan, Swarthmore College

Despite the many positive impacts of immigration on the health of democracies, do the xenophobic movements destabilizing politics throughout the world indicate a limit on the amount of migration liberal democracies can absorb?

Is America Becoming Less Democratic?

FULL VIDEO OF EVENT AVAILABLE HERE
ESSAYS BY PANELISTS HERE

Ari Berman, Mother Jones
Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia
Moderator: Marc Meredith, University of Pennsylvania

IN THE WAKE OF THE SUPREME COURT'S rollback of supervision under the Voting Rights Act, and in light of controversies in Georgia, Florida and elsewhere over voting access during the midterms, how should we assess the impact of widespread efforts to limit the franchise? 

Is Economic Inequality Destroying Democracy?

Co-sponsored by The Penn-Temple European Studies Colloquium

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO OF THE EVENT HERE (Begins at 22:30)
ESSAYS BY PANELISTS ARE AVAILABLE HERE

Janine Wedel, George Mason University
Charlie Dent, Former U.S. Representative (R-PA15) and Perry World House Global Order Visiting Fellow
Jeffrey Green, Penn Political Science and Director of the Mitchell Center
Moderator: Mitchell Orenstein, Penn Political Science

IS THE GROWING INEQUALITY IN WEALTH within the world’s developed nations destabilizing their democracies, as it simultaneously erodes accountability for powerful elites and undermines a sense of common purpose among everyday citizens?

Has Trump Changed the Media?

Co-sponsored by the Center for Media at Risk

FULL VIDEO OF THE EVENT AVAILABLE HERE

Pablo Boczkowski, Northwestern University
Zizi Papacharissi, University of Illinois-Chicago
Jay Rosen, New York University
Claire Wardle, First Draft
Moderator: Mitchell Orenstein, Penn Russian and East European Studies

HAS DONALD TRUMP, HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, and his Twitter feed transformed American media, or has he simply revealed transformations that were already well underway? And if there is no way of “changing it back,” how should we attempt to reform the media going forward?

 

Is China's Authoritarian Revival Undermining Its Rise?

Co-sponsor: Center for the Study of Contemporary China
FULL VIDEO OF THE EVENT AVAILABLE HERE

Carl Minzner, Fordham University School of Law
Moderator: Neysun Mahboubi, Center for the Study of Contemporary China

AFTER YEARS OF DEFYING THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM that a more open economy would bring about democratic reforms, will that failure – and indeed its more recent turn to greater authoritarianism under Xi Jinping – ultimately hamper China’s continuing rise as an economic and global power?

Is Russia Undermining Democracy in the West?

Co-Sponsors: Foreign Policy Research Institute, Department of Russian and East European Studies,  Penn-Temple European Studies Colloquium

READ PANELIST ESSAYS HERE
FULL VIDEO OF THE PANELS AVAILABLE AT LINKS BELOW

AMID NEW REVELATIONS OF THE EXTENT of Russian interference in American elections, how should we appraise Russia’s role in undermining democracy not just in America, but throughout the West – and are there perils in exaggerating its successes?

Panel 1: Is Russia Undermining Democracy in the West?
VIEW THE FULL VIDEO HERE

Michael Carpenter, Penn Biden Center
Samuel Charap, RAND Corporation
Nikolas Gvosdev, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Marlene LaRuelle, George Washington University
Moderator: Mitchell Orenstein, Penn Russian and East European Studies

Panel 2: Have Elections Become Cyberwars?  
VIEW THE FULL VIDEO HERE

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg School for Communications
Clint Watts, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Moderator: John Haines, Foreign Policy Research Institute

Panel 3: Is Russia’s Strategy Working or Backfiring? 
VIEW THE FULL VIDEO HERE

Bob Hamilton, US Army War College
Alina Polyakova, Brookings Institution
Rudra Sil, Penn Political Science
Moderator: Anna Mikulska, Penn Russian and East European Studies

Panel 4: Concluding Remarks
VIEW THE FULL VIDEO HERE

Adrian Basora, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Claire Finkelstein, Penn Law
Mitchell Orenstein, Penn Russian and East European Studies

How Should Citizens Resist Authoritarian Rule?

Co-sponsors: Perry World House, the Center for Africana Studies at Penn, and the Department of Africana Studies

FULL VIDEO OF THE EVENT AVAILABLE HERE

IS IT TIME FOR AMERICANS TO DRAW INSPIRATION from movements against authoritarianism that have emerged around the world in places such as Togo – or rather, should we strive for a politics of civility and accommodation to forestall a slide into crisis and, in consequence, the very authoritarianism we fear?

Farida Nabourema, Togolese Activist and Blogger
Jeb Bush, Former Florida Governor and Penn Presidential Professor of Practice