Archive/July 10 2025
Introducing The Civic Forum / Overview of Democratic Backsliding
With Rory Truex
Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
In this session, Rory introduced The Civic Forum and delivered a concise lecture on the erosion of democracies, a process political scientists refer to as "democratic backsliding."
Meet the Speaker
Rory Truex is Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, where his research and teaching focuses on Chinese politics and authoritarian systems. In 2021 he received the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest teaching honor at Princeton. His commentary on China and U.S.-China relations has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and South China Morning Post, among other outlets. He is the founder of The Civic Forum, a weekly webinar on democracy featuring leading scholars and practitioners. He writes the Living in Truth Substack.
Suggested Readings
Bermeo, Nancy. "On Democratic Backsliding." Journal of Democracy 27.1 (2016): 5-19. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/607612
Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. How Democracies Die. Crown, 2019.