Peter E. Gordon

Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

Daniel Ziblatt

Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies & Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University; Unit Director, Transformations of Democracy, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Frieze at Adolphus Busch Hall

CES Frieze "Es ist der Geist der sich der Koerper baut"

The Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series is co-chaired by CES Resident Faculty Peter Gordon and CES Director Daniel Ziblatt.

For upcoming lectures, please refer to the events calendar below.

Events Calendar

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series & Democracy and Its Critics Initiative — Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies

April 8, 2026
2:00pm - 3:15pm

Speaker Giovanni Capoccia – Professor of Comparative Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations; Fellow Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford
Chair Daniel Ziblatt – Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies & Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University; Unit Director, Transformations of Democracy, WZB Berlin Social Science Center
Discussant Steven Levitsky – Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government, Harvard University

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Is This Fascism?

April 16, 2026
4:00pm - 6:00pm

Speaker Nancy Fraser – Henry A and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science, The New School for Social Research; Senior Loeb Scholar, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Chair Daniel Ziblatt – Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies & Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University; Unit Director, Transformations of Democracy, WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Thomas Mann on Patriotism as the Love and Critique of Country

April 28, 2026
5:00pm - 6:15pm

Speaker Elaine Chen – Ph.D. Candidate in German Languages and Literatures, Harvard University
Discussant Jan-Paul Sandmann – Ph.D. Candidate in Government, Harvard University; Graduate Student Affiliate, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

The Belfer Center's Applied History Project & Questions of Fascism and Democracy and Lecture Series — Lessons from "America's Great Power Prophet"

October 30, 2025
1:30pm - 2:45pm

Speaker Edward Luce – U.S. National Editor and Columnist, Financial Times
Discussant Graham Allison – Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Susan B. Glasser – Resident Fellow (Fall 2025), Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School; Staff Writer, The New Yorker
Chair Daniel Ziblatt – Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies & Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University; Unit Director, Transformations of Democracy, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Intent to Destroy: Russia's Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine

April 15, 2025
4:00pm - 5:30pm

Speaker Eugene Finkel – Kenneth H. Keller Professor of International Affairs, Johns Hopkins University, School of Advance International Studies
Chair Daniel Ziblatt – Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies & Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University; Unit Director, Transformations of Democracy, WZB Berlin Social Science Center
Discussant Serhii Plokhii – Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Book Discussion | The Assault on the State

April 8, 2025
4:00pm - 5:30pm

Speaker Stephen Hanson – Lettie Pate Evans Professor, The College of William & Mary; Visiting Scholar 2022-2023, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and Jeffrey S. Kopstein – Dean's Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine; James Bryant Conant Fellow in Germany and European Studies (1995-1996), Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Discussant Steven Levitsky – Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University; David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government, Harvard University and Theda Skocpol – Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Chair Daniel Ziblatt – Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies & Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University; Unit Director, Transformations of Democracy, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Resisting Authoritarian Populism: What Is To Be Done?

April 3, 2025
4:30pm - 6:30pm

Speaker William E. Scheuerman – James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science, Indiana University, Bloomington
Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Late Fascist Aesthetics: A Theory of the Online Forum

March 12, 2025
4:00pm - 6:00pm

Speaker Katie Ebner-Landy – Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard University
Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Uncivil Society and Polarization in Eastern Europe

March 5, 2025
4:00pm - 6:00pm

Speaker Lenka Bustikova – Professor of Political Science, University of Florida
Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — Against Haste: On the Heuristic Affordances of ‘Fascism’

February 6, 2025
4:00pm - 6:00pm

Speaker Federico Marcon – Professor of East Asian Studies and History; Chair of the East Asian Studies Department, Princeton University
Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

American Swastikas and German Klansmen: Transatlantic White Supremacy from the 1970s to Charlottesville

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series — American Swastikas and German Klansmen: Transatlantic White Supremacy from the 1970s to Charlottesville

January 28, 2025
4:00pm - 6:00pm

Speaker Michelle Lynn Kahn – Associate Professor of Modern European History, University of Richmond
Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
Introduction by David Spreen – Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty and Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University

The Wannabe Fascists – A Conversation with Federico Finchelstein

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series & The Democracy and Its Critics Initiative — The Wannabe Fascists – A Conversation with Federico Finchelstein

October 21, 2024
4:00pm - 5:30pm

Speaker Federico Finchelstein – Professor of History & Chair of History, New School for Social Research
Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

Event Series

Questions of Fascism and Democracy Lecture Series

Chairs

Events Calendar