ISMA

LibCon2026 is just weeks away. It's our best one yet. Come check it out: conference.ismaglobal.org

Liberal democracy's future depends on winning younger voters. What are their core concerns? Can we keep them from drifting toward illiberal alternatives? The great @SarahLongwell25 will mod a panel featuring @racheljanfaza, @WakeUp2Politics, and @TheOmniLiberal at LibCon2026.

Free speech is a bulwark against censorship—but it's also become a cover for dehumanization. Can free speech absolutism coexist with strong social norms against hate speech? @mmasnick, @jon_rauch, @CathyYoung63, and @AlexanderAbdo will tackle this important topic at LibCon2026.

Trump is testing how far unchecked presidential power can go. That's why, at @ismapolicy's LibCon2026, @DavidAFrench, Bob Bauer, @LizaGoitein, and @justingflorence will ask: What would a presidency accountable to voters and the Constitution actually look like?

Big favor to ask our readers: Would you kindly follow our @ismapolicy account? ISMA, or Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, is our parent org—and in this next month it will be the central hub for LibCon updates. 🙏🙏

America's immigration system is broken—feeding populism and a police state at odds with liberal values. At @ismapolicy's LibCon2026, we enlisted @radleybalko, @ReichlinMelnick, @chavezlinda, @kdpindc to tell us what a rational, humane system would look like instead.

Authoritarians are learning from each other across borders. Can defenders of liberal democracy do the same? @ismapolicy's LibCon2026 takes on that mantle with @anneapplebaum, @robertguest1, @maradiaga, and @BobRae48 helping us get there.

While LibCon2026's opening panel will take stock of authoritarian consolidation in the U.S. 🇺🇸 ... the panel immediately following it will go global 🌎 And its got a truly formidable lineup: @anneapplebaum @robertguest1 @maradiaga @BobRae48 Don't miss this!

Check this out 👇 The opening panel at @ismapolicy's LibCon2026—featuring @AdamSerwer, @FukuyamaFrancis, Jan-Werner Muller, and Erica Frantz—confronts the question that defines this moment: how far down the authoritarian consolidation pathway has the U.S. already gone?

LibCon2026: "There is no other convening like this anywhere else on the planet." Our All Access package is wait listed. We just have a few more tickets of the basic package left. Hosted by @ismapolicy, publisher @UnPopulistMag Sign up now or suffer FOMO: open.substack.com/pub/theunpopul…

LibCon2026, organized by @ismapolicy, is coming. This year's theme: not resistance, but reconstruction. What do liberals actually build when the authoritarian moment passes? July 16–17 in D.C. theunpopulist.net/p/libcon2026-i…

I attended #LibCon2025 for the first time this year; the quality of panels was uncommonly high, and this was one of the best of them.

A very insightful #LibCon2025 panel—featuring @FukuyamaFrancis, @RuthMarcus, and @jacklgoldsmith—on the state of our democracy. Here's the whole thing—video + transcript—in @UnPopulistMag theunpopulist.net/p/why-courts-c…

With @vkaramurza and @shikhadalmia at #LibCon2025

Honored to have taken part in this discussion, moderated by the great @Yascha_Mounk , on lessons that the 🇺🇸 can learn from the challenges liberalism is facing abroad. @UnPopulistMag

LibCon2025 is almost at an end. Here is @shikhadalmia about to introduce our incredible final keynote conversation between @DKThomp and @sapinker

🔥🔥🔥 @sapinker at @ismapolicy’s LibCon2025 keynote conversation

Dinner Keynote at #LibCon2025 by @vkaramurza

@suketumehta "A tyrant, a bully can only enjoy power if people obey. Power rests with the subordinate." - @suketumehta

@FukuyamaFrancis @jacklgoldsmith @RuthMarcus "Instead of [The Justice Department] seeming to resist Trump's admonitions and exhortations to go after his political enemies, we're seeing at least the incipient stages of launching investigations and convening grand juries." - @RuthMarcus