Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
FSI researchers work to understand continuity and change in societies as they confront their problems and opportunities. This includes the implications of migration and human trafficking. What happens to a society when young girls exit the sex trade? How do groups moving between locations impact societies, economies, self-identity and citizenship? What are the ethnic challenges faced by an increasingly diverse European Union? From a policy perspective, scholars also work to investigate the consequences of security-related measures for society and its values.
The Europe Center reflects much of FSI’s agenda of investigating societies, serving as a forum for experts to research the cultures, religions and people of Europe. The Center sponsors several seminars and lectures, as well as visiting scholars.
Societal research also addresses issues of demography and aging, such as the social and economic challenges of providing health care for an aging population. How do older adults make decisions, and what societal tools need to be in place to ensure the resulting decisions are well-informed? FSI regularly brings in international scholars to look at these issues. They discuss how adults care for their older parents in rural China as well as the economic aspects of aging populations in China and India.
"America needs to pull back from the identities favored by liberals and conservatives to an integrative one based on the country’s founding principles," writes Francis Fukuyama in Stanford Magazine. Read the full article here.
Of the current climate of political polarization, CDDRL's Didi Kuo writes, "we can hope that citizen dissatisfaction fosters political engagement through activities such as protest, mobilization and pressure on public officials. Democratic institutions are the best, and only, way to resolve crises of democracy." Read the full article here.
Listen to Francis Fukuyama in conversation with Frederic Filloux on the need of regulations of platforms, the preservation of free speech, and the role of Europe here on The Monday Note.
An Evening with ECE TEMELKURAN
Co-Sponsors: Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies; CDDRL Program on Turkey; Department of Comparative Literature;
Division for Literatures, Cultures, and Languages; Stanford Humanities Center
Stanford Humanities Center, Levinthal Hall
“When you see something wrong, don’t be a bystander,” Annan responded. “You are never too young to lead. Don’t let my generation tell you, ‘Shut up and wait your turn.’ If there’s something you feel that you can do something about, do it. Work across racial, religious and other lines. Don’t accept divisions you see in society,” said former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan in conversation with CDDRL Mosbacher Director Francis Fukuyama. Read the article here and watch the video here.
At an event co-sponsored by the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and the Hoover Institution, "former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou addressed a crowd of 400 University faculty, students and local community members in his Wednesday talk on democracy, cross-strait relations and future challenges facing Taiwan." Read The Stanford Daily's full coverage of President Ma's visit here.
Kofi Annan is the Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation which mobilizes political will to overcome threats to peace, development and human rights. Mr. Annan was the 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations and the first to emerge from within its own ranks. In 2001, Mr. Annan was, together with the United Nations, awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for having revitalized the organization and prioritizing human rights.
With the Kofi Annan Foundation, which this year marks its 10th anniversary, Mr. Annan works for fair and legitimate elections, for peace processes that deliver, for agriculture that serves the poorest and for youth leadership in the fight against violent extremism. In addition, Mr. Annan and the Foundation engage in preventive diplomacy and mediation activities to safeguard peace.
Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Mosbacher Director of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). He is also a professor by courtesy in the Department of Political Science. He was previously at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, where he was the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy and director of SAIS' International Development program.
Traitel Bldg., Hauck Auditorium
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Encina Hall, C148
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Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a faculty member of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). He is also Director of Stanford's Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy, and a professor (by courtesy) of Political Science.
Dr. Fukuyama has written widely on issues in development and international politics. His 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man, has appeared in over twenty foreign editions. His book In the Realm of the Last Man: A Memoir will be published in fall 2026.
Francis Fukuyama received his B.A. from Cornell University in classics, and his Ph.D. from Harvard in Political Science. He was a member of the Political Science Department of the RAND Corporation, and of the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State. From 1996-2000 he was Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, and from 2001-2010 he was Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-2004. He is editor-in-chief of American Purpose, an online journal.
Dr. Fukuyama holds honorary doctorates from Connecticut College, Doane College, Doshisha University (Japan), Kansai University (Japan), Aarhus University (Denmark), the Pardee Rand Graduate School, and Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland). He is a non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rand Corporation, the Board of Trustees of Freedom House, and the Board of the Volcker Alliance. He is a fellow of the National Academy for Public Administration, a member of the American Political Science Association, and of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married to Laura Holmgren and has three children.
(October 2025)
CDDRL senior fellow Larry Diamond talks with Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist Maina Kiai about the state of democracy in Kenya and how it can progress beyond its current flaws. Listen here.
This event is co-sponsored by The Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies
The once much-hailed success story of Turkey’s democracy as a “regional model” has been decidedly replaced by studies of its breakdown. With its ever-increasing centralization of power under a one-man regime, some might now see Turkey as a “global model” for a new authoritarianism.
Why has the response of North Atlantic democracies to the erosion of Turkey’s democracy been muted? Is Turkey’s policy of “hostage diplomacy” and offers of trade deals paying off? Can democracy still make a comeback in Turkey? What lessons can the global democratic public draw from Turkey’s struggle?
In this panel, academics from Turkey will explore Turkey’s new political reality, prospects for change, and the international context.
Organized by the Media & Democracy program at the Social Science Research Council, in collaboration with the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
The 2016 American elections intensified popular as well as scholarly interest in the relationship between media and democracy. The role of social media has featured particularly prominently in debates over fake news, information bubbles, and algorithmic propaganda. Increased scholarly interest is manifested in the numerous conferences that have been held over the last year or so, jointly exploring technological changes in the media, social interactions online, and their relationship to the quality of our democracy.
Social Media and Democracy: Assessing the State of the Field and Identifying Unexplored Questions will convene researchers to take stock and look ahead. In a format of brief remarks and panel discussions, we seek to assess the current literature on social media and democracy together, and to set a research agenda for the field moving forward.
Format: Each panelist will be asked to speak for up to ten minutes. In lieu of preparing traditional research presentations, we encourage attendees to reflect on the field as a whole, and ask themselves where they would like to see scholars go next. After hearing prepared remarks from panelists, each panel will have allotted time for a discussion with audience participation.
Panel-specific prompts are included below, geared toward key connecting themes: What gaps exist in current research? What studies would we like to see that do not exist right now? What do we not yet know about the impact of social media on democracy? What partnerships are needed to pursue research that can answer these questions?
Thursday, April 19 8:30-9:00am Registration and Breakfast
9:00-9:30am Opening Remarks: Diana Mutz and Nate Persily Overview of the Literature on Misinformation: Josh Tucker
9:30-11:00am Inflammatory Speech and Incivility Online
Panelists: Susan Benesch Bryan Gervais Diana Mutz Monica Stephens
Is social media a medium on which inflammatory speech and uncivil discourse are particularly prevalent? Online incivility may take a range of expressions, from unusually aggressive statements of individual political views to coordinated campaigns of harassment and intimidation. The targets may include out-partisans, professionals such as journalists, politicians, or government employees, and minority or underrepresented groups such as women and ethnic/religious minorities.
What, if anything, is different about inflammatory speech in the social media environment? What do we not yet understand about the origins, spread, and consequences of inflammatory speech online? Should we distinguish between different forms of incivility (e.g. direct threats vs. slurs, individual vs. coordinated harassment)? To what extent is online incivility related to real world actions (including, but not limited to, real world violence)?
11:00-11:30am Coffee Break
11:30am-1:00pm Distribution and Effects of Fake News
Panelists: Renee DiResta Kelly Garrett David Rand Josh Tucker
The distribution of false information - intentional and unintentional - through social media has become a significant source of anxiety in the media, politics, and public discourse. Exposure to false information can lead to mistaken impressions about the world, and may also deepen partisan divisions.
What do we need to learn about how misinformation spreads online? We already have some research that quantifies exposure to misinformation online; what do we need to learn next about the effects of such exposure (on the individual level and in the aggregate)? Has the spread of social media raised new, unanswered questions about how people process information and classify it as true or false?
1:00-2:00pm Lunch 2:00-3:30pm Correcting Disinformation
Panelists: Jonathan Albright Matthew Baum Adam J. Berinsky Matthew Gentzkow Emily Thorson
Once a person has been exposed to, and accepted as true, an inaccurate piece of information, how can the information be successfully corrected? What do we need to understand next about the possibilities and pitfalls for correcting misinformation?
Do we have reason to suspect that social media changes the difficulty of correcting misperceptions? What do we not yet know about how corrections of factual information lead to changes in political attitudes or behavior? If we want to correct false beliefs, what do we need to learn about who should go about making corrections, and how?
Friday, April 20th 8:30-9:00am Breakfast
9:00am-10:30am Homophily in the Social Media Sphere
Panelists: Damon Centola Annie Franco Shanto Iyengar Jaime Settle
Concern about online political discourse taking place in self-selected or algorithmically supported “information bubbles” is common, though there are differing views on how serious this problem is.
Do we know whether social media is exceptional in enabling or limiting exposure to politically heterogeneous information? How do algorithms affect how much political content users see and/or the kind of political content to which they are exposed? What do we not yet understand about the frequency and consequences of political homophily on social media, as distinct from other types of media? What study would you like to see next on the prevalence and consequences of homogeneous political information?
10:30-10:45am Coffee Break 10:45am-12:15pm Globalization of the Marketplace of Ideas
Panelists: Nina Jankowicz Linda Kinstler Jennifer Pan
The use of social media for political ends is not limited to the United States, nor to traditional state actors. Narratives about politics are circulated online to influence domestic audiences, to drive political perceptions abroad, and to organize as well as suppress citizen unrest.
What do we need to learn next about the effectiveness of using social media to push the political interests of state- or non-state actors? What do we not yet understand about the dynamics at play when nation-states get involved in one another’s media ecosystems? How is this any different from when they previously did so using other media? What can we learn from studying the intersection of media and democracy in comparative perspective?
12:15-1:30pm Concluding Discussion Over Lunch (to-go available per request
Fisher Conference Center Frances C. Arillaga Alumni Center Stanford University