Live Events

We're a community of people defending the values of a free society. Join our events to discuss the most important issues of our time with our advisors, guest speakers, and fellow community members.

Our live events are central to the community we’re building.

They serve two purposes:

• A core reason why so many people have turned towards illiberal ideas in the past years is that advocates of a free society have, often, failed to provide real answers to the pressing problems of the present. In our events, we hope to have soul-searching debates about what the values of a free society demand of us—and how they can help us build more fair and vibrant democracies.

• Another reason why advocates of a free society have been on the back foot in the past years is that we lack the institutions and gathering spaces in which we can build up an esprit de corps. Our events are meant to change that by incorporating a strong social element—connecting members of the community both to our guest speakers and to each other.

So far we’ve hosted events like:

• Introductory Debate: Is right-wing illiberalism the greatest threat to US democracy? Niall Ferguson and Yascha Mounk debate the threats to liberal society.

• The Future of Liberalism: Drawing on their knowledge of Asia, Europe and Latin America, Ivan Krastev, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Denise Dresser discuss the prospects for the values of a free society around the world.

We will also have a series of book clubs in which famous authors discuss their own work or their favorite books by other writers. In recent weeks, we’ve had conversations with, among others:

• Anne Applebaum on her new book, Twilight of Democracy

• David French on his new book, Divided We Fall

• David Frum on his new book, Trumpocalypse

• Coleman Hughes on Bayard Rustin

• Garry Kasparov on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens

For a full list of the books we’ve discussed, and to see our scheduled upcoming talks, visit the Persuasion bookstore.

Book clubs are reserved for subscribers who are Founding Members.