Off to APSA to Talk about Threats to Democracy

I’m headed to San Francisco soon for this year’s annual American Political Science Association conference. As usual, the conference is crammed with interesting talks and panels to attend. I’m particularly keen on a couple panels on “Democratic Inclusion and Globalization” (which I addressed in my dissertation and in some forthcoming papers), as well as a couple panels on digital threats to democracy and human rights.

The conference also offers a chance to listen and engage with political scientists on broader shared concerns about rising authoritarianism, racism and undemocratic populism. Lots to discuss.

At APSA I will be presenting on the Democracy, Distrust and Digital Publics panel, and sharing some early work from the Hacking Public Opinion project.

That project, which I’m working on with UBC colleagues Jordan Buffie, David Moscrop, Spencer McKay, Max Cameron and Mark Warren, is funded by a SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant. SSHRC just posted all of the synthesis projects on the theme: “How will Canada continue to thrive in an interconnected world and evolving global landscape?” Some really interesting research projects there. Both the APSA conference and the SSHRC knowledge synthesis projects show academics engaged in timely research on current social problems… far from the ivory tower stereotype.