Addressing the challenges facing democracy today
Raghu Rai. Local commuters at Church Gate railway station. Mumbai. 1995
Around the world, democracies confront serious challenges, old and new.
These range from enduring challenges, such as enhancing civic participation, political representation and democratic accountability, to confronting the ramifications of digital technologies, rising social inequalities and shifting power relations in the evolving international order. The Jarislowsky Democracy Chair pursues critical research and collaborative partnerships that advance public understanding and explore practical innovations to meet these imperatives.
Sign up to be the first to know about our upcoming events, lectures, and podcast episodes.
Learn how you can be on the frontlines of democracy.
What’s New
20 November 2025
NEW PODCAST! The Political Economy Underlying the US-China Clash with Ho-Fung Hung
Host Sanjay Ruparelia speaks with Ho-Fung Hung, the Henry and Elizabeth Wiesenfeld Professor in Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, to discuss contemporary understandings of China and how they're shaped and influenced by China's storied past. Their conversation draws on themes from Ho-Fung’s upcoming book, The China Question: Eight Centuries of Fantasy and Fear, set for release in February 2026. The two explore how historical perceptions, geopolitical anxieties, and longstanding fantasies about China have shaped global engagement with the country over the centuries. They trace how these dynamics continue to echo in contemporary politics and how foreign notions and policies interact with and influence China.
21 October 2025
NEW RECORDING! The China Question - Democracy, Authoritarianism, and Global Rivlary
For centuries, Western scholars portrayed China either as a land of superior morality or as a formidable country of pagans that posed a global threat to Western values. The geopolitics of the last few decades facilitated more nuanced perspectives. Some believed global capitalism would support gradual democratization, others that liberal democracy was incompatible with Chinese governance. Either way, the “China Question” has underpinned policy approaches, academic analysis, and public understanding of China’s authoritarian model. Yet today, as economic pressures mount and US-China rivalry intensifies, this framework faces unprecedented scrutiny.