This coming Saturday, July 4th, BRLSI will be hosting an all-day conference on the subject of strengthening democracy.
Democracy Under Threat features great speakers and gives you the chance to exchange ideas with fellow attendees throughout the day.
At the close of play, a panel which includes Wera Hobhouse, Member of Parliament for Bath, will discuss the issues which have come up throughout the course of the conference, and ask your thoughts on the question ‘Is Democracy Under Threat or just in need of gentle recalibration?
Planned to coincide with the two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence, this conference tracks both the birth of the fundamental democratic ideas the U.S.A. was founded upon and explores their durability around the world in the modern age.
Speakers across the day cover ground from modern citizenship, constitutional design, and make assessments of both the strength of democracy with the advent of digital technology, and within the context of greater political polarisation and trends towards the centralisation of power in more and more countries.
American Academics Professors Paul D’Anieri and Prof. Rajan Menon give their assessment of the state of the Union in 2026 and explore the resilience of a tested American constitution. Professors Alan Renwick and Andrew Blick situate the story of democracy in a British context and look at what challenges our government faces in delivering for its citizens within a representative democracy.
Dr Thom Oliver explores trust in democracy at the individual level, drawing insight from the Qualitative Election Study of Britain, before Wera Hobhouse MP, Thom Oliver, Alan Renwick, Paul Jackson, and Andreas Wasmuht bring their own reflections on the state of democracy in 2026.
Wera Hobhouse, MP, will also be asked questions on the day-to-day experience of a serving Member of Parliament.
To attend the conference, you can purchase an all-day ticket for Queen Square by pasting the link below into your browser, or if you can’t make the whole day, you can livestream individual sessions from the comfort of home.
If you are looking to attend further talks in the series, a discount of 20% is on offer to all those purchasing five tickets or more from the series, excluding the conference.
For tickets: https://www.brlsi.org/whatson/democracy-under-threat-conference/
