Does democracy require the toppling and removal of the authoritarian old guard? This roundtable gathers scholars of authoritarian regimes and democratic transitions from around the world to consider whether democracy always needs to be a fresh start, or needs instead to draw on personnel and practices from the authoritarian era to help it stabilize and survive.

Killian Clarke is an Assistant Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He received his PhD from Princeton University’s Department of Politics. In his research he studies the origins and consequences of grassroots mobilization and protests, and their contribution to transformative political events like revolutions, regime change, and democratization. Much of his work focuses on the Middle East. He is currently working on a book, “Return of Tyranny”, which explains why some successful revolutions are reversed by counterrevolutions that restore the old regime to power.

Mohammad Ali Kadivar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Studies at Boston College, with a PhD in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research explores political and comparative-historical sociology, focusing on protest movements. Kadivar's work draws from his experience in Iran's pro-democracy movement and employs case studies, comparative-historical methods, and statistical analyses. His research has been published in prestigious journals like the American Sociological Review and Comparative Political Studies. In November 2022, Princeton University Press released his debut book, Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy.

Maria Snegovaya (Ph.D., Columbia University) is a Senior Fellow with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a Postdoctoral Fellow in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. She studies democratic backsliding and re-autocratization in postcommunist and post-Soviet Europe, Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, and the tactics used by Russian actors and proxies who circulate disinformation to exploit these dynamics in the region. Her research results and analysis have appeared in policy and peer-reviewed journals, including West European Politics, Party Politics, Journal of Democracy, Post-Soviet Affairs, and the Washington Post political science blog "The Monkey Cage." Her book on related topics is forthcoming with Oxford University Press in December 2023.

Josef Woldense is an Assistant Professor in the African American & African Studies Department and an Affiliated Faculty in Political Science at the University of Minnesota. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Indiana University. His research interests are in the areas of elite politics, authoritarian regimes, political institutions, and social network analysis with a geographical focus on Africa.

This event will be offered in person in 1040 LSA Building and on Zoom. Zoom registration is required at http://myumi.ch/y2RdX

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