Susan Stokes, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Chicago Center on Democracy, discussed President Joe Biden’s Democracy Summit in two recent news articles.
The first, “Biden convenes ‘democracy summit’ as America’s system grows imperiled” (Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2021), quotes Stokes on the value of the summit.
“Even if the gathering ‘is a little performative,’ she said, it could have some impact. ‘Having a summit that produces some video and audio that can go back to domestic audiences in the U.S. and other countries that shows there’s this group of people listening and talking about democratic values, that can make a difference in the broad public sense of where the momentum is,’ Stokes said.
The second, “American democracy needs a grassroots coalition at home” (Chicago Tribune, December 13, 2021), is an op-ed co-authored with William Howell (Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Effective Government at UChicago). They discuss the Democracy Summit and the White House’s bipartisan commission looking at changes to the Supreme Court, as well as the need for diverse coalitions to make lasting change to democratic structures.