Is Autocracy Contagious?
Anna Grzymala-Busse is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, Senior Fellow and Director of the Europe Center at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford. Professor Grzymala-Busse previously served as the director of the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies and the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia at the University of Michigan. She received her PhD from Harvard University, her MPhil from Cambridge University, and her AB from Princeton University. She is a recipient of the Carnegie and Guggenheim Fellowships, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her research currently focuses, among other things, on state development and transformations in Europe, patterns of democratic backsliding in post-communist Europe, corruption and its historical roots and contemporary prevalence. She is the author of four books: Redeeming the Communist Past: The Regeneration of Communist Successor Parties; Rebuilding Leviathan: Party Competition and State Development in Post-Communist Europe; Nations Under God: How Churches Use Moral Authority to Influence Politics and Sacred Foundations: the Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State.

In her talk, Professor Grzymala-Busse explores the connections between the world’s autocrats, and political actors in eroding democracies, suggesting that democracy is contagious. Putin’s support for the far-right in Europe and the links between Hungary's Fidesz and other political parties point to an "illiberal international" is at work, including in the United States. Professor Grzymala-Busse examines where such autocratic diffusion exists, how it might undermine democracy, and what limits it faces. Co-sponsored with the Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World.

Location: CMC Athenaeum