CDDRL Events
Events
Research Seminar Series
CDDRL's weekly research seminar features speakers that present on the most relevant and timely topics impacting the field of democracy, development and the rule of law. The seminars attract members of the Stanford academic community and beyond who bring original analysis and thinking to bear on debates taking place within this field of study.
Explore past seminars
REDS Seminar Series
The Rethinking European Development and Security (REDS) Seminar Series aims to deepen the research agenda on the new challenges facing Europe, especially on its eastern flank, and to build intellectual and institutional bridges across Stanford University. REDS is organized by CDDRL and The Europe Center, and co-sponsored by the Hoover Institution.
Explore the series
Lectures and Special Events
The Center's special events range from book talks and launches to discussions with visiting scholars to conversations on current events and draw in a diverse audience from Stanford and the broader community. Scroll down to view all upcoming events.
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Fall 2026 Research Seminar Series
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24
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01
12:00 PM - 01:15 PM
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Oct
08
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Oct
15
12:00 PM - 01:15 PM
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22
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Seminars
Frances Cayton — Civic Consciousness and the Limits of Attacks on Civil Society
Thursday, October 1, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Conference Room E-008 in Encina Hall, East, may attend in person.
Speaker:
Moderator:
Seminars
Book Talk: How to Survive Authoritarianism
Monday, October 5, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Only those with an active Stanford ID and access to the William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall may attend in person. Others may attend virtually, via Zoom - join with passcode: 123456.
Registration required.
Speaker:
- Maria Kuznetsova,
- Dan Storyev
Moderator:
Seminars
Israel Insights Webinar with Amos Harel — Three Years Since October 7: Causes and Consequences
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM (Pacific)
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM (Pacific)
Seminars
REDS Seminar: Aleksandar Matovski — The Kremlin’s Pressure Cooker: Restraint and Escalation in Russia’s War on Ukraine
Thursday, October 8, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall may attend in person.
Speaker:
- Aleksandar Matovski
Moderator:
Film Screenings
Film Screening: Everyone Is Lying to You for Money
Thursday, October 8, 2026
6:15 PM - 8:15 PM (Pacific)
6:15 PM - 8:15 PM (Pacific)
CEMEX Auditorium, Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way, Stanford
Speaker:
- Ben McKenzie
Moderator:
- Dylan Ackerman, MBA ’26
Only those with an active Stanford ID and access to the William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall may attend in person. Others may attend virtually, via Zoom.
Registration required.
Speaker:
- Alexandra Vacroux,
- Yevhenii Malik
Moderator:
Seminars
Chris Dann — Building Dictatorships: Legitimacy & Large-Scale Infrastructure
Thursday, October 15, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Conference Room E-008 in Encina Hall, East, may attend in person.
Speaker:
Moderator:
Lectures
How Americans Enforce the Law: Book Talk with Diego Zambrano
Thursday, October 15, 2026
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM (Pacific)
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM (Pacific)
Stanford Law School Room 280B
Crown Quadrangle, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford (map)
Speaker:
Lectures
S.T. Lee Lecture featuring Former Congressman and Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake
Monday, October 19, 2026
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Pacific)
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Pacific)
Bechtel Conference Center
Encina Hall, First floor, Central, S150
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Encina Hall, First floor, Central, S150
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Speaker:
- Jeff Flake
Moderator:
Seminars
Israel Insights Webinar with Dahlia Scheindlin — To Bibi or Not to Bibi? Scenarios for Israel's Crucial Elections
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM (Pacific)
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM (Pacific)
Seminars
Milada Vachudova | REDS Seminar: Europe in the Face of War
Thursday, October 22, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Philippines Conference Room
Encina Hall, Third Floor, Central, C330
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Encina Hall, Third Floor, Central, C330
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Speaker:
- Milada Vachudova, University of North Carolina
Moderator:
- Anna Grzymała-Busse, Kathryn Stoner
Seminars
Benjamin Yoel — International Pressure and Opposition to Democratic Backsliding
Thursday, October 29, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Conference Room E-008 in Encina Hall, East, may attend in person.
Speaker:
Moderator:
Seminars
Book Talk — We Shall Outlast Them: Putin's Global Campaign to Defeat the West
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
3:30 PM - 4:45 PM (Pacific)
3:30 PM - 4:45 PM (Pacific)
Only those with an active Stanford ID and access to the William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall may attend in person. Others may attend virtually, via Zoom.
Registration required.
Speaker:
- Hanna Notte
Moderator:
Seminars
Marcela Ibáñez — Authoritarian Aid and Democratic Attitudes: Backlash, Not Diffusion
Thursday, November 5, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Conference Room E-008 in Encina Hall, East, may attend in person.
Speaker:
- Marcela Ibáñez
Moderator:
Seminars
Protest and Politics in Turkey in the 70s
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (Pacific)
In-person: Encina Commons 123 (615 Crothers Way, Stanford)
Online: Via Zoom
This event is open to the public. Registration is required.
Speaker:
- Selin Bengi Gümrükçü
Seminars
Nir Halevy — How to Fix a Broken Hierarchy
Thursday, November 12, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (Pacific)
In-person: Class of 1968 Building, Room C102, Stanford GSB
Online: Via Zoom
Speaker:
- Nir Halevy
Seminars
Jeanet Sinding Bentzen — Risky Business? Religiosity and Risk-Taking in Full-Population Danish Data
Thursday, November 12, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to William J. Perry Conference Room in Encina Hall, may attend in person.
Speaker:
- Jeanet Sinding Bentzen
Moderator:
Panel Discussions
Delivering Humanitarian Aid in a Contested World
Thursday, November 12, 2026
4:00 PM - 6:30 PM (Pacific)
4:00 PM - 6:30 PM (Pacific)
Panels: Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall
Reception: Coit D. Blacker Lobby, Encina Hall
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Encina Hall may attend. Registration required.
A recording will be posted to CDDRL's YouTube channel after the event.
Seminars
Neil Rogachevsky — Israel's Declaration of Independence: Founding Values and Contemporary Debates
Monday, November 16, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Registration required. Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456.
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Encina Hall E409 (Goldman Conference Room) may attend in person.
Speaker:
- Neil Rogachevsky
Moderator:
Lectures
Book Talk with Mikhail Fishman — The Successor: Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Putin and the Decline of Modern Russia
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Reuben Hills Conference Room in Encina Hall, East, may attend in person.
Speaker:
- Mikhail Fishman
Moderator:
Seminars
Israel Insights Webinar with Donna Divine & Asaf Romirowsky — Teaching and Researching Israel in 2026
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM (Pacific)
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM (Pacific)
Virtual Only Event.
Speaker:
- Donna Divine ,
- Asaf Romirowsky
Moderator:
Seminars
Alain Schläpfer — Why Do Voters Elect Authoritarians? How Scandal Signals Independence from Elites
Thursday, November 19, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Conference Room E-008 in Encina Hall, East, may attend in person.
Speaker:
Moderator:
Panel Discussions
Global Implications of the U.S. Midterm Elections
Monday, November 30, 2026
4:30 PM - 6:45 PM (Pacific)
4:30 PM - 6:45 PM (Pacific)
Location available following valid registration
Speaker:
Moderator:
Seminars
Ivetta Sergeeva — The Authoritarian Passport: How States Discipline Emigrants Without Repressing Them
Thursday, December 3, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
Virtual to Public. If prompted for a password, use: 123456
Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to Conference Room E-008 in Encina Hall, East, may attend in person.
Speaker:
Moderator:
Featured Past Events
Defying the (Autocratic) Odds: A Conversation with María Corina Machado
Machado joins Larry Diamond to explore Venezuela’s current political challenges, the critical role of civic engagement, and strategies for fostering democratic transitions in restrictive environments.
America Votes 2024: Stanford Scholars on the Elections Most Critical Questions
In a series of four panel discussions, Stanford’s leading social scientists draw on their cutting-edge research to examine the multifaceted issues at play in this especially consequential election.
2024 S.T. Lee Lecture Presented by Oleksandra Matviichuk
Oleksandra Matviichuk explores the interconnectedness of global security dynamics, examining how Russia's human rights violations in Ukraine reverberate across borders.
The Autocratic Challenge to Liberal Democracy and the Future of Global Development
In commemoration of the Center's 20th anniversary, this roundtable discussion on November 3, 2022, features CDDRL directors past and present reflecting on two decades of global transformation.
American Democracy and the 2022 Midterm Elections
CDDRL's Bruce Cain, Hakeem Jefferson, and Didi Kuo to discuss the 2022 midterm elections — what's at stake and the implications for democracy, both at home and abroad.
Robert G. Wesson Lecture: Facing Autocracy, a Global Challenge
The fight for freedom in Venezuela has become, like many others around the world, part of the global conflict between autocracy and democracy. Venezuelan political leader and pro-democracy activist Leopoldo López joined CDDRL to discuss.
Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: What it Means and Why You Should Care
Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Why is Ukraine strategically important to Russia and the West? What are the broader global implications of this attack?
The January 6th Capitol Riots
One year later, Hakeem Jefferson and Didi Kuo discussed January 6th’s impact on American politics, violence and election legitimacy, and the ongoing crisis of democracy.
Ukraine vs Russia: War for Democracy
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk, the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow at FSI, discusses the ongoing ideological war between Ukraine and Russia.