Introducing "The Civic Forum"

New Summer Webinar on Democratic Erosion in America

This week I’m excited to announce a new initiative I’ve been working on: The Civic Forum. Every Thursday this summer at noon EST, I will be hosting a webinar on Crowdcast that features short lectures and discussions with some of the leading scholars and practitioners of democracy.

I launched this project to create a space where people can come to learn and discuss the big ideas of government, to study democracy and authoritarianism, to think about the meaning of citizenship, and to face the political moment. My hope will be to keep it analytical and less emotional, free of the usual hot takes, name-calling, and snark that dominate much of our media space.

Each week will feature a speaker who brings real insight, either from their scholarship or professional experience. This is not meant to be a “Democrat” or “blue” space, but a pro-democracy space. It will focus on American politics, but we will bring in speakers with lessons from other parts of the world.

The sessions will be Thursday at noon, and you can register for the events that you’d like to attend. You can register for as many as you like, and it will always be free. The calendar is below, and you can find more information on the website here: https://www.thecivicforum.com/

Here’s the calendar with registration links:

• July 10th, noon EST - Introducing The Civic Forum / Overview of Democratic Backsliding (Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e2

• July 17th, noon EST - Race, Black History, and the MAGA Movement (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e3

• July 24th, noon EST - Russian Politics, the War in Ukraine, and U.S.-Russia Relations (Mark Beissinger with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e4

• July 31st, noon EST - Strongmen (

  Ruth Ben-Ghiat
  with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e5

• August 7th, noon EST - Effective Opposition and Civic Engagement (Erica Chenoweth with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e6

• August 14th, noon EST - The Orban Model: Destroying Democracy by Law (

  Kim Lane Scheppele
  with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e7

• August 21st, noon EST - How Can We Improve Representation? Lessons from Run For Something (

  Amanda Litman
  with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e8

• September 4th, noon EST - Tracking Democratic Erosion in the United States (

  John Carey
  ,
  Gretchen Helmke
  ,
  Brendan Nyhan
  with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e9

• September 11th, noon EST - Do Americans Support Authoritarian Government? (Kevin Arceneaux with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e10

• September 18th, noon EST - The Backsliders: Exploring Patterns in the Fall of Democracy (

  Adam Przeworski
  and Susan Stokes with Rory Truex) - Register here: https://crowdcast.io/c/civicforum-s1e11

If you can’t make the events live, I will be posting recordings on Youtube and Substack. You can follow the project on Youtube, Instagram, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts if you prefer those platforms.

Each session is standalone, but combined they will offer something of a short course on democratic erosion and the current state of democracy in the United States. I am lucky that some of the leading scholars in the world on these issues have volunteered their time to talk things through.

If you believe in this initiative, I’d be grateful if you shared this email or the website link (www.thecivicforum.com) with others who might be interested. Restacking on Substack also helps. You can also post or share to any listservs, group texts, etc. I hope to have good turnout at the webinars and I am reliant on word of mouth for that.

Thanks as always for your support and interest in my work. I’ll get back to writing normal posts next week and will be posting on Tuesday mornings from now on. Next week I’ll be writing on the broader theme of war, threat narratives, and authoritarianism.

Rory