A growing number of elected leaders come into office through democratic means but then proceed to threaten democratic institutions. In Hungary, Viktor Orban engineered a rewriting of the constitution that greatly augmented the powers of the president. In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan regularly imprisons political opponents. In the United States, Donald Trump has threatened the independence of institutions such as the courts and the Federal Reserve. 

The campaign statements of these politicians might represent an early-warning system that democracy could be threatened under their administrations. But on the campaign trail, do they sound any different from other, less disruptive candidates? Susan Stokes uses quantitative and qualitative analysis of candidate speeches to explore how politicians use terms of unity and division, ideas about the identities of “the people” and their enemies, and distinctive cues that elicit emotions ranging from anger and fear to enthusiasm and optimism.

2:00 p.m. Registration and networking
2:30 p.m. Presentation and discussion
3:30 p.m. Reception

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