Ian Bassin

Democracy is in crisis around the world as illiberal movements challenge long held consensus approaches to governance that had contained left-right disagreements for decades. A widely-recognized expert and practitioner in the field, Bassin unpacks how this crisis emerged, its causes and symptoms, and what people and institutions across society need to know to navigate, survive, and ultimately address it.

The emergence of artificial intelligence comes at a time when democracy is already under strain. As a leader of one of the few organizations working at the intersection of democracy and emerging technologies, Bassin discusses what general counsels, boards, policy leaders and citizens need to understand about the technology-governance collision.

As the leader of a cross-ideological democracy organization working in an era of extreme polarization, Ian Bassin discusses what it takes to build resilient institutions rooted in intentional cultures that can not only survive a volatile time, but thrive in one.

In the early days of the United States, the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville observed American behaviors that underpinned the young nation’s democratic experiment. He called these the “habits of the heart” that animated American citizenship. Ian Bassin, one of the nation’s leading democracy experts and advocates, discusses those habits, how their erosion has contributed to current challenges, and how revitalizing them can lead to both stabilization and renewal, both nationally and within American institutions.