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.
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What’s New
1 October 2026
TPL and Toronto Metropolitan University present Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Jill Lepore in conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia at the Toronto Reference Library's Appel Salon.
As Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Jill Lepore brings her rare gift for narrative history to one of the most urgent questions of our time: has democracy already been quietly replaced by rule of a different kind, one governed not by citizens, but by machines owned by corporations?
Jill Lepore: The Artificial State
21 October 2026
How can we stay in relationships with people with whom we disagree in polarized times? Friendship is a private comfort. But it is also political work–the daily, unglamorous business of talking with people whose views unsettle us and whose reasoning we may never fully understand. What can the friendships sustained by the famous philosopher Hannah Arendt— including with people whose politics she found troubling—teach us about sustaining democracy today?