(CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA) – At a time when democratic institutions across the globe are facing unprecedented challenges, top scholars will gather on Thursday, Feb. 6 to reflect on the current state of democratic governance and assess its prospects.

The Democracies in Crisis discussion, sponsored by the University of Virginia Center for Politics and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, will be moderated by Prof. Peter Johannessen of the Batten School and will feature the following panelists:

— Michael Abramowitz, president of Freedom House. Freedom House is a U.S.-based organization that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights.

— Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, chair for the Global Politics and Security Concentration in Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program and a professor in the Practice of International Affairs in MSFS. She also served for 10 years in the United States Department of State, working on democracy promotion, human rights, human trafficking, religious freedom, refugees, and counterterrorism.

— Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America, US and the Americas Programme, Oxford University. Sabatini is Senior Fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, and a lecturer in discipline in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where he has taught since 2008.

The panel will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Great Hall of Garrett Hall, on the Grounds of the University of Virginia. Members of the media are welcome to attend, as are members of the general public with advanced registration here. 

The panelists will also be featured in a forthcoming, three-part Center for Politics documentary series, Dismantling Democracy, which is slated to be released this fall. The trailer is available here.

Thursday’s forum is part of “Democracy in Perilous Times: Unprecedented Challenges and Controversies,” an ongoing program series organized by the Center for Politics and the Batten School as part of the National Symposium Series.