Announcement: Centre for Constitutions in Context 2026 Annual Lecture by Professor Pippa Norris (Online)

The Centre for Constitutions in Context (CCC) at Warwick Law School (WLS) invites you to join us for our 2026 Annual Lecture, delivered this year by the world-leading political scientist Professor Pippa Norris.

Pippa will be discussing the Cultural Roots of Democratic Backsliding.

Date: 23 September 2026

Time: 2pm-3:30pm BST

Format: Online, via an MS Teams town hall

Register here (via the CCC’s Eventbrite page for the lecture)

The lecture is based on a forthcoming book to be published by Oxford University Press.

Threats of democratic backsliding have metastasised in America and around the globe. Historical narratives blame predatory strongmen and Authoritarian-Populist parties. Institutional explanations fault weak checks on executive aggrandisement. Performance accounts emphasise the incapacity of democratic governments to deliver peace and prosperity. Cultural theories highlight public support for democratic and authoritarian values. Debate continues about the most important drivers that fit diverse cases and how these components interact.

Part I of the book outlines these claims. Part II scrutinises new evidence for each account. Part III concludes that regimes are most likely to endure where formal constitutions are rooted in the informal norms and values of ordinary citizens. The conclusion highlights the implications for reversing processes of democratic backsliding.

A Warwick alumna, Pippa Norris is a comparative political scientist who has taught at Harvard for three decades. She is the Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Founding Director of the Electoral Integrity Project, Director of the Global Party Survey, Co-Director of the TrustGov Project, Co-Principal Investigator for Trust in European Democracies (TrueDem), and Vice-President of the World Values Survey.

Her research compares public opinion and elections, political institutions and cultures, gender politics, and political communications in many countries worldwide. She is ranked the 2nd most cited political scientist worldwide, according to Google scholar, and the 3rd political scientist ranked worldwide, according to Research.com. Major career honours include, amongst others, the Johan Skytte prize, IPSA's Karl Deutsch award, fellowship of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, APSA's Charles Merriam award, Warren E. Miller award, Samuel Eldersfeld award, and George H. Hallet award, EPOP's Sir David Butler award, and the PSA's Sir Isaiah Berlin award, as well as several book awards and honorary doctorates.

For further information about this event and other CCC events, visit the ‘Events’ page of our website.

Please direct any questions about the event to the co-directors of the CCC, Dr Mara Malagodi and Dr David Vitale at ccc@warwick.ac.uk.