The Global Democracy Conference (GDC) returns in 2026, with scholars, policymakers, and activists coming together at the University of Notre Dame to explore urgent strategies for defending and renewing democracy worldwide. This year’s theme, Confronting Public Support for Anti-Democratic Leaders, will guide two days of keynotes, plenary roundtables, and breakout sessions featuring academic and policy partners of the Kellogg Institute.
In old and new democracies, voters appear increasingly willing to support radical candidates who, once elected, dismantle democracy from the inside. Judges, legislators, journalists, and civil society can resist the process of democratic backsliding, but mere containment is insufficient. Reversing the process ultimately requires electoral majorities committed to consistently voting democratic parties into office and rejecting illiberal electoral appeals at the ballot box. This conference is guided by the following key questions:
- What factors have prompted the rise of public support for anti-democratic leaders?
- How do illiberal executives rally public approval?
- Under what conditions can democratic actors mobilize public support for democracy?
- What strategies are more effective to confront anti-democratic leaders at the ballot box?
- What role do digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence and social media, play in the mobilization of public support?
The 2026 Global Democracy Conference will convene scholars and practitioners to explore new areas of collaboration between academia and the policy world, connect scholars and practitioners from different regions of the world, and improve our collective ability to understand and address antidemocratic support among voters. The GDC includes two types of sessions: Plenary roundtables, colored gold on the conference schedule, will feature 12-minute presentations by academics and practitioners, followed by a conversation led by a moderator. Breakout sessions, colored red on the conference schedule, will feature topics and formats proposed by leading academic and policy organizations at the Kellogg Institute’s invitation, broadening the range of conversations at the GDC.
Finally, this year, the GDC will be followed by the Keeping the Republic Conference on May 21st, a forum for invited senior researchers and early-career scholars dedicated to a broad revitalization of American democracy. Be part of a global conversation on the future of democracy. Add the GDC to your calendar now and join us as registration opens later this year.
For more information, visit the event page.
Sponsored by the Kellogg Institute at the Keough School of Global Affairs.