While democracy in Europe is in turmoil, there is a growing concern that democracy in the United States of America is actually ending. Ever since Tocqueville, the state of democracy in America has been perceived as foreshadowing of democracy’s future in Europe. Is American democracy still salvable after the current assault on countervailing powers like the courts, the press, and academia; an abandonment of constitutional principles; the denial of fundamental rights; the disruption of the administrative state; and the paralysis of party and parliament? Do we, or will we, experience a similar disintegration of democracy in Europe? How bad is the state of democracy? But perhaps also: how bad is it that democracy is in such a state? What do we have to offer in this predicament, as scholars and concerned citizens?

In this combined meeting of the IOS ‘Global Futures of Democracy’ initiative and the ‘Rule of Law’ seminar series organised by Utrecht University, speakers from different disciplines will discuss these urgent and disconcerting questions.

Ido de Haan, professor of political history, will talk about the problem of democratic institutions to deal with hallucinating power. Is the current abandonment of rules, reason and truth the death knell of democracy, or only one of its excesses?

Thomas Schillemans, professor in public governance, will discuss how to get beyond the polarization of diploma democracy. What is the role of the university to overcome the one-sidedness of political meritocracy?