Global Democracy Conference Briefs
Each year, the Global Democracy Conference (GDC) convenes leading scholars and practitioners at the University of Notre Dame to examine one of the most pressing challenges to democracy worldwide. From understanding executive overreach, to dissecting popular support for autocratic leaders, expert discussions are centered around exploring the causes, consequences and potential solutions to these critical issues.
In two pages, each Conference Brief distills the insights of a single conference panel—describing a problem democracies are facing, then compiling concrete ideas for confronting it, drawn from broader conference discussions and recent research. Each is designed to help practitioners, policymakers, activists, funders, and researchers identify the problem through a clear, timely description with global examples; design strategies to address or reverse it, with real-world examples of resistance; and access additional resources from Notre Dame and the wider community.
Publications
GDC 2026: Confronting Public Support for Anti-Democratic Leaders
Why do voters back leaders who dismantle democracy once in office—and how can democratic actors win them back at the ballot box? The 2026 briefs take up that question across six expert roundtables.
SERIES INTRODUCTION
Democracy with Exceptions: Autocratic Persuasion and Potential Responses
The series introduction, connecting all six roundtables through the concept of "autocratic persuasion"—how illiberal leaders justify breaking select democratic norms—and the strategies that can rebuild trust in democracy over the long term.
ROUNDTABLE 1
When Does Citizen Support for Democracy Erode—or Endure?
Examines what leads voters to abandon or hold onto their democratic commitments, and where the openings for renewal lie.
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ROUNDTABLE 2
When Civil Society Helps—or Hurts—Public Support for Democracy
Shows how civic organizations can both strengthen and erode democratic attitudes, and how to steer them toward reinforcing democracy.
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ROUNDTABLE 3
How Authoritarian Leaders Manufacture Legitimacy—and How Democratic Movements Can Counter Them
Unpacks the tactics illiberal leaders use to appear legitimate, and the counter-strategies available to democratic movements.
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ROUNDTABLE 4
Why Citizens Turn Away from Human Rights—and How to Win Them Back
Explores why public support for human rights erodes, and how advocates can rebuild it in a skeptical climate.
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ROUNTABLE 5
Citizen Participation and New Media
Looks at how digital platforms and AI reshape political participation—for better and worse—in the contest over democracy.
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ROUNDTABLE 6
The Autocratic Campaign Toolkit—and Effective Democratic Responses
Details the playbook illiberal candidates use to win elections, and the democratic responses that prove most effective against it.
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Publications
GDC 2025: Executive Power and Democratic Backsliding
How do elected leaders undermine independent institutions—across elections, the courts, the bureaucracy, civil society, and the media—and which strategies slow or reverse these processes?. The 2025 briefs take up this question across six roundtables, one per arena of political competition.
ROUNDTABLE 1
Executive Overreach and Democratic Backsliding
Frames how elected leaders erode democracy incrementally from within, and the warning signs that set backsliding apart from ordinary politics.
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ROUNDTABLE 2
Executive Overreach in the Electoral Arena
Shows how executives tilt elections through reform "camouflage," disinformation, and pressure on electoral management bodies—and how they resist.
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ROUNDTABLE 3
Executive Overreach in the Legal System
Examines how leaders capture courts and bend the law to entrench power, and the strategies that keep judiciaries independent.
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ROUNDTABLE 4
Executive Overreach and Civil Society
Traces how would-be autocrats constrain NGOs, unions, and watchdogs, and how civil society sustains resistance under pressure.
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ROUNDTABLE 5
Executive Overreach and Public Bureaucracies
Explains how executives politicize the civil service and hollow out state capacity, and reforms that protect bureaucratic independence.
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ROUNDTABLE 6
Executive Overreach, Mass Media, & Social Networks
Looks at how leaders dominate traditional and social media to shape narratives, and the defenses that protect a free information space.
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RELATED PUBLICATION
2025 KEYNOTE · NEW YORK TIMES OPINION
A Free People Need a Free Press
The New York Times publisher's GDC keynote, published as a Times opinion essay, on the pressures facing a free press and why its independence is essential to democracy.
Read the essay>
Publications
GDC 2024 Understanding Today, Shaping Tomorrow
The inaugural Global Democracy Conference brought together scholars and practitioners to assess the state of democracy worldwide and chart a path forward.
CONFERENCE REPORT
Understanding Today, Shaping Tomorrow: 2024 Global Democracy Conference Summary Report
Summarizes the 2024 conference—keynotes, panel highlights, and thematic takeaways spanning the state of the world, new ideas, and the path forward for democracy.
Read the report (PDF)>