Why Democracies Develop and Decline | Kellogg Institute For International Studies

An event celebrating Kellogg's 40th anniversary!
More info on our anniversary can be found here.

This two-day conference will use the most recent Varieties of Democracy book as a springboard to brainstorm about promising new research agendas.

The book is Why Democracies Develop and Decline (Cambridge, June 2022), edited by Kellogg Faculty Fellow Michael Coppedge, Amanda Edgell, Carl Henrik Knutsen, and Staffan I. Lindberg. Each chapter tests a different family of hypotheses about the causes of democracy: geography and demography, international influences, economic factors, institutions, and social movements. The conclusion is a novel synthesis of the best explanations from the preceding chapters. It emphasizes the sequencing of causes, from distant to proximate ones. Most of the authors have worked together on V-Dem since its beginning, so this volume is more synoptic than most edited books.

Because this volume contains the most extensive quantitative tests yet of dozens of hypotheses about democracy levels, upturns, and downturns, it can inform a meeting of minds to take stock of what we know, what is still uncertain, and what questions remain to be addressed. This conference brings together some of the top researchers on democratization from the Kellogg Institute, the Varieties of Democracy project, and the larger community of scholars.

Presented by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies with cosponsorship by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA).

Sunday, March 5

Noon
Welcome by Kellogg Director Aníbal Pérez-Liñán and Kellogg Faculty Fellow Michael Coppedge

1:30 – 3:00pm
Overview (Amanda Edgell) and Descriptive Survey (Svend-Erik Skaaning)
Chair: Alec Hahus
Discussants: J. Samuel Valenzuela, Karrie Koesel

3:15-4:30pm
Long-Run Factors (John Gerring)
Chair: William Kakenmaster
Discussants: Richard Snyder, Deborah Yashar

4:30-5:45pm
International Factors (Michael Coppedge)
Chair: Kimberly Peh
Discussant: Olukunle Owolabi, Tom Mustillo

Dinner by Invitation

Monday, March 6

Continental Breakfast

9:00-10:15am
Economic Factors (Carl Henrik Knutsen)
Chair: Katherine Bersch
Discussants: Carles Boix, Daniel Treisman, Lakshmi Iyer

10:15-10:30am
Break

10:30-11:45am
Institutions (Fabricio Vasselai)
Chair: Benjamín García Holgado
Discussants: Daniel Brinks, David Altman

11:45am-1:00pm
Lunch by invitation

1:00-2:15pm
Social Forces (Michael Bernhard)
Chair: Diana Isabel Güiza-Gómez
Discussants: Ann Mische, Victoria Hui

2:15-3:30pm
Conclusion (Michael Coppedge)
Chair: Jacob Turner
Discussant: Jennifer McCoy, Svend-Erik Skaaning

3:30-4:00pm
Break

4:00-5:30pm
Roundtable (Scott Mainwaring, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, Evelyne Huber and John Gerring)
Moderator: Karrie Koesel

David Altman
Michael Bernhard
Katherine Bersch
Carles Boix
Daniel Brinks
Michael Coppedge
Amanda Edgell
Benjamín García Holgado
John Gerring
Diana Isabel Güiza-Gómez
Alec Hahus
Evelyne Huber
Victoria Hui
Lakshmi Iyer
William Kakenmaster
Carl Henrik Knutsen
Karrie Koesel
Scott Mainwaring
Jennifer McCoy
Ann Mische
Tom Mustillo
Olukunle Owolabi
Kimberly Peh
Aníbal Pérez-Liñán
Svend-Erik Skaaning
Richard Snyder
Daniel Treisman
Jacob Turner
J. Samuel Valenzuela
Fabricio Vasselai
Deborah Yashar