SNF Agora Conversations: Election 2020
tune in friday, october 30, 12–12:45 p.m. for:
Race, Polarization, and Life After the Election
Polarization, particularly along racial lines, is one of the key factors of our current election cycle. It’s also a political tactic, and one of the vulnerabilities that has left us open to foreign interference. The country is witnessing a profound racial reckoning, and the November election may put leaders in office who want to unite us around issues of racial justice, but there will be no quick fixes. How do we talk about race, identity, and polarization in a way that doesn’t imagine that one election—or one elected leader—can heal all wounds? How do we hold the conversations that bridge divides and put us on a durable pathway forward, together?
Alan I. Abramowitz is the Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He has authored or coauthored six books, including most recently, *The Great Alignment: Race, Party Transformation and the Rise of Donald Trump *(2018). * *
Theodore “Ted” R. Johnson is a senior fellow and director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. In this role, he explores the intersection of race, politics, and public policy outcomes as they relate to the systems of democracy and justice.
Ashley Quarcoo is a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. Her research focus is on threats to democracy, social and political polarization, and comparative approaches toward building social cohesion and democratic renewal.
UPCOMING SNF Agora EVENTS:
Election 2020: Ask Johns Hopkins Anything (AJHA)
Wednesday–Friday, November 4-6
What happens on election night and the days following will raise important questions about what happened and why, and how we can all begin to move our democracy forward together. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are invited to pose questions to our experts using a flexible AMA–style platform. Co-hosted by SNF Agora and Hopkins at Home.
Scalia/Ginsburg/Wang: An Opera and Conversation about Forging Friendship across Ideological Divides
Saturday, November 7, 1–4 p.m. ET (radio broadcast 1 p.m., conversation 3:15 p.m.)
Join us for a broadcast of the acclaimed opera Scalia/Ginsburg, followed by a conversation with composer Derrick Wang, hosted by Peabody Dean Fred Bronstein. Wang’s comic opera playfully dramatizes the unlikely friendship between U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Though frequent foes on the bench, their enduring friendship serves as a model for how, in these polarized times, we can look beyond ideological discord and find enduring harmony. Co-hosted by SNF Agora, Peabody Institute, and Hopkins at Home.
The Past Four Years: What Have We Learned?
Wednesday, November 11, Noon
Join a bipartisan post-election discussion exploring what we have learned in the past four years or more about parties, partisanship, and the structures of our democracy. SNF Agora Institute Senior Fellows Anne Applebaum and Yascha Mounk, David French of The Dispatch, and Charles Kessler of Claremont McKenna College discuss the state of American institutions, how they have changed over time, and what reforms, if any, are needed. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates. Produced in partnership with the National Constitution Center.
Learn about Hopkins Votes
Hopkins Votes is a nonpartisan initiative that provides voter assistance and education to Johns Hopkins University faculty, staff, students, and the wider community. We are committed to facilitating access to the electoral process for all eligible voters, regardless of an individual’s political affiliation, location, voting method, or registration status. Learn more here.
About the SNF Agora Institute
The SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University was founded in 2017 with a $150 million grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. We are a multi-disciplinary academic and public forum dedicated to strengthening global democracy by improving and expanding civic engagement and inclusive dialogue, and by supporting inquiry that leads to real-world change. By building integrated partnerships with scholars, practitioners, students, and the public, we use research to identify and sharpen strategic choices that members of the public and civic and political stakeholders around the world can make to realize the promise of democracy.