Annual Lectures
Dondena Annual Lectures feature prominent international scholars, who discuss topics with high societal and scientific relevance.
About the keynote speaker
James Robinson is an economist and political scientist. Robinson has conducted influential research in the field of political and economic development and the relationships between political power and institutions and prosperity. His work explores the underlying causes of economic and political divergence both historically and today and uses both the mathematical and quantitative methods of economics along with the case study, qualitative and fieldwork methodologies used in other social sciences. Together with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, he was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for groundbreaking research on how political and economic institutions shape prosperity. Their work has shown that inclusive institutions foster long-term growth and development, while extractive ones lead to poverty and stagnation.
Robinson reflected on the role of ideas in shaping human societies. Beyond explanations centered on material forces such as economics or technology, he explored how ideational innovation contributes to molding institutions and steering political development.
Democracies are in crisis, and what’s missing from the discussion is the crisis of democracy as an idea.
Waves of democratization occur when democracy diffuses as a widely accepted and legitimate way of organizing authority, while reverse waves emerge when that legitimacy weakens and the idea of democracy itself enters crisis.
Democracy is not a fixed endpoint, but a fragile balance constantly challenged by new ideas. Some aim to justify hierarchical systems, others push toward egalitarianism: two visions that, according to Robinson, have guided the historical oscillation of social models.
Liberal democracy is a form of institutionalized egalitarianism, but it is not immune to new ideas that legitimize hierarchy.
Hierarchical schemas ground authority in divine rights, tradition, meritocracy – framing inequality as legitimate or deserved. Egalitarian schemas, by contrast, justify authority through principles of equality and collective accountability, and find in democracy a particularly successful and scalable way of organizing collective limits on concentrated power (so called “reverse dominance coalitions”). However, as Robinson emphasizes, these two logics coexist in all societies, and democracy can be challenged by alternative justifications for authority.
A theory of social change in which the ideas become the forcing variable.
In closing, the lecture suggested that while economic conditions play a role, the current strain may also reflect a weakening of democracy’s normative appeal, particularly amid perceptions that liberal institutions are exclusionary or elite-driven. If democratic resilience depends on legitimacy, then addressing the present crisis requires coming up with new ideas to justify democracy as a fair and inclusive form of authority.