This panel discussion opens the Graduate Institute’s programme for the Geneva Democracy Week with a timely and urgent reflection on how democratic (and undemocratic) practices are embedded in constitutions and policies. Recent and contested decisions such as the USA’s Supreme Court’s reversal of the constitutional right to abortion, for example, have further complicated the notion that constitutions and the law are democratic instruments. Taking place in the immediate aftermath of the Brazilian elections, the discussion takes stock of recent developments in Brazil, India, and the USA to discuss the dynamics of legal and constitutional change.

Introductions

Christine Lutringer, Executive Director and Senior Researcher, Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, Geneva Graduate Institute

Michèle Righetti, State Chancellor for the Geneva canton

Keynote speaker

Peggy Cooper Davis, John S. R. Shad Professor of Lawyering and Ethics Director, Experiential Learning Lab, New York University 

in DISCUSSION WITH

Jamil Chade, reporter in Europe for news group UOL, columnist at Radio Bandeirantes and daily columnist of Band News TV

Milan Vaishnav, Senior fellow and Director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Moderator

Ravinder Bhavnani, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Geneva Graduate Institute

Watch live on Youtube

This event is organised with the support of the Permanent Mission of the United States. It takes place in the context of the Geneva Democracy Week as part of the programme organised by the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy.