2024 Stanfield Conversation: The U.S. election and democracy's global fate
Piya Chattopadhyay moderated the annual Dalhousie University event with Doug Saunders and Debra Thompson
2024 has been called the "year of elections," with countries containing half the world's population heading to the polls. And it comes amid widespread democratic backsliding worldwide – a trend of weakening democratic values and institutions.
Election outcomes have been watched closely, especially leading up to the U.S. presidential election earlier this month. So now that Donald Trump is heading back to the White House, what does that spell for the fate of global democracy?
That question was at the core of this year's Stanfield Conversation, a series presented by Dalhousie University, which focuses on challenges to democracy and responses to them.
The Sunday Magazine host Piya Chattopadhyay moderated this year's event in Halifax on Wednesday, featuring The Globe and Mail's international affairs columnist Doug Saunders, and Debra Thompson, a political scientist and the Canada Research Chair in Racial Inequality in Democratic Societies at Montreal's McGill University.
Their conversation explored what led to Trump's victory, how his presidency may affect the world, what global examples we can learn from to understand this moment, how Canada fits into the puzzle, and much more.
You can listen to audio of the event by streaming it at the top of this page or downloading it on The Sunday Magazine podcast. A Dalhousie University recording is also available to watch below.