Annual Symposium 2026: Democracy in Danger

April 30 – May 1, 2026

COSPONSORED BY THE SANTA FE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

PARTNERS INCLUDE: AAUW-Santa Fe; Global Santa Fe; League of Women Voters – Santa Fe County; School for Advanced Research; St. John’s College, Santa Fe (America’s Great Books College);  University of New Mexico – International Studies Institute; World Affairs Council-ABQ

To register for the 2026 Symposium, please email sfwaforum@outlook.com with names of registrants, days attending and whether paying by check to SFWAF and mailed to: The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum PO Box 31965, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87594. Or to by Paypal or credit card through our website at https://sfwaf.org/payment

Rebecca Black; Senior USAID Officer (rtd), Mission Director and Strategic Planning Specialist
Kelly Davis; Vice President for Voter Services, League of Women Voters of Santa Fe County
Dr. Gary Donato; Chair, Santa Fe Veterans Advisory Board
Walter Gaskin; US Marine Corps Lt. General (rtd)
Dr. Siegfried Hecker; LANL Director emeritus, former professor and nuclear weapons expert
Dr. Steve Martinez; History professor, Santa Fe Community College
Dr. Emile Nakhleh; Middle East and Senior National Security specialist
Brian Naranjo; US Senior Foreign Service Officer (rtd), Venezuelan Expert and Strategic Planner
Dr. Mark Peceny; University of New Mexico, Political Science Professor
Gregory Polk; Chair of the Coordinating Committee, New Mexico Peace Corps Association
Karl Stoltz; Public Diplomacy Council of America, Co-president, US Senior Foreign Service Officer (rtd) Public Diplomacy and Disinformation Specialist
Joanna Watkins; Senior Public Sector Specialist, Governance Department, World Bank

Democracy is founded on the idea that the ultimate power of governance lies in its people.  In essence, power to govern flows upwards from the bottom not down from the top as is characteristic in autocratic regimes.

Democracy is dynamic. It can adjust to ever-changing environments and societal differences. US democracy is one of the oldest in today’s world, but it is also just one of many forms that have been tried since democracy’s origins in 6^th century BCE Athens. Some have succeeded and others failed.  Ultimately, all democratic governments provide legal structures. Some do so through written constitutions. Others rely on a set of agreed-upon laws that are underpinned by the values of liberty, independence, free speech, justice and fair play for all and yes, even the pursuit of happiness.

US democracy has changed substantially since it was introduced in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the US Constitution in 1789. Both are amazingly concise and revolutionary documents for their time that set out a framework designed to unite 13 disparate, quarreling, multiethnic, multilinguistic and multireligious British colonies governed by a king.  This new framework was created to mitigate against the over concentration of power in a single individual or group by dispersing it through a system of checks and balances – from federalism, three branches of government, free media and speech, to regular elections run in the states.

But what if those 17^th century guardrails are breached?  When threatened, is democracy resilient enough to resist?  Is it worth fighting for? Can it be protected?  If so, how? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Its basic elements?  Is it still even the best way to govern?  And how should this form of government look and operate in the future?

Much of US foreign policy since the end of the Cold War was based on the mantra that the spread of democracy worldwide helps guard against wars.  In fact, the spread of democratic values has been at the foundation of US foreign policy since the end of WWII. The current international system itself – now under challenge – is also based on democratic principles and aspirations – derived from this 18^th century US experiment.

Yet today the democratic form of government is under threat. Has democracy run its course?  Or does power still rest with “we the people”?  And if so, how best can this great experiment function in states and nations here at home and abroad in the twenty-first century?

This year’s symposium will address and try to answer these and other questions.

To register for the 2025 Symposium, please email sfwaforum@outlook.com with names of registrants, days attending and whether paying by check to SFWAF and mailed to: The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum PO Box 31965, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87594. Or to by Paypal or credit card through our website at    https://sfwaf.org/payment 

April 10-11, 2025

Gary A Grappo, US Ambassador (rtd) and currently Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Middle East Studies at the Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver; CEO of Equilibrium Consulting.

Siegfried Hecker, former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and current professor of practice at Texas A&M University and at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, CA;

Dr. Manuel Montoya, PhD, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico, Department of Economics.  A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has delivered over 100 lectures on emerging markets and global conflict worldwide and is a recent recipient of UNM’s Presidential Teaching Fellowship, the university’s highest honor.  He has also developed Vessels and Voids, a podcast, which he discusses the link between popular culture and development of global society.

Dr. Jody K Olsen, former Director and Deputy Director of the US Peace Corps and Peace Corps staff member and volunteer who currently co-chairs Women of Peace Corps Committee, chairs the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation Park Advisory Committee and a member of the Maryland Governor’s Commission for Service and Volunteerism.  Dr Olsen has also authored A Million Miles:  My Peace Corps Journey which was published earlier this year.

Eric Rubin, US Ambassador (rtd) to Bulgaria and former president of the American Foreign Service Association;

We live in stormy times. The heyday following Communism’s end in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is a faded memory. History has not ended as once prophesized – it has instead moved on to the rise of populist leaders and their autocratic control domestically and internationally. The democratic model which promised so much is under challenge throughout the globe.

Can democracy survive the onslaught of autocrats? Can civil society institutions prove to be democracy’s underlying strength? But will they hold, or will they too falter?

There is deepening concern that autocrats, often initially elected democratically, have used the levers of raw power to dominate mainstream and social media, subvert education, and control elections first to hobble and then effectively destroy democracy turning back the clock by sweeping away progress on desperately needed reforms – from action on climate change to gender and income inequality.

Moreover, do autocracies now seize the opportunity to attack their neighbors? Threaten nuclear holocaust unless they get their way, and destabilize the

international order that kept the peace throughout much of the world since the end of WWII?

How significant is the ripple effect of the seemingly sudden demise of the 40 year old Assad dynasty not just for Syria itself but also for the greater Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia and beyond? How can a seemingly small pebble tossed into a sea turn into a tsunami of global proportions within a single week?

This symposium will analyze what such political changes, including those in this country, portend for democracy and the future of our world.

Thursday April 25 and Friday April 26, 2024

Is American influence waning? Is the United States stretched too thin? Or is the US still the world’s indispensable nation? Can it be both? If so, for how much longer? How stable – at home and abroad – is American democracy and US leadership? Or is it being irreparably eroded from within and without?

What can we do to address our deepest fears or are mountains being made out of mole hills? Is the threat of war expanding beyond the current conflicts that could draw in the US militarily real? Would an international provocation tip the delicate balance of the containment policy employed by the Biden administration? How would US policy, its effectiveness and the American image abroad change if a conservative Republican were elected to the White House in 2024? This year the Santa Fe World Affairs Forum will take a deep dive into the questions of American international influence as the global order rests on increasingly shaky pillars. Can the US still retain its democratic form of government and compete in this increasingly complex and troubled world? Is so how?

Eric Rubin, US Ambassador (rtd) to Bulgaria and former president of the American Foreign Service Association;

Siegfried Hecker former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and current professor of practice at Texas A&M University and at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, CA;

Dr Emile Nakhleh Former Senior Intelligence Service (SIS) Officer (CIA), former Research Professor and Director, GNSPI (UNM), Founding Director, Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program (CIA), Founding Director (rtd), Global and National Security Policy Institute (University of New Mexico);

John Herbst. US Ambassador (rtd) to Uzbekistan and Ukraine, and Director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council;

William Itoh, US Ambassador (rtd) to Thailand and former Executive Secretary of the National Security Council.  Professor of the Practice in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a Senior Advisor to McLarty Associates, an international business consulting firm;

Dr Nicholas Cull,   Professor of Communication, University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Global Communication Policy Fellow, Center Leadership and Policy;

Chair, University and college student panel

Mark Asquino, US Ambassador (rtd) to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.  Retired career Foreign Service Officer, Fulbright scholar, Member of the board of directors of Global Santa Fe. Dr Asquino’s memoir, Spanish Connections, published in 2023, is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

To register for the 2023 Symposium, please email sfwaforum@outlook.com with names of registrants, days attending and whether paying by check to SFWAF and mailed to: The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum PO Box 31965, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87594. Or to by Paypal or credit card through our website at    https://sfwaf.org/payment 

April 13-14, 2023

Ambassador William B Taylor, Vice President for Russia and Europe, US Institute for Peace, former US Ambassador to Ukraine;
Juha Makkikali, Finnish Honorary Consul, Denver, CO;
Dr. Gary M Grossman, Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University and former Fulbright professor (in Turkey);
Dr. Nancy Lubin, President, JNA Associates, Inc a research/consulting firm on the former USSR, especially Caucasus/Central Asia;
Siegfried S Hecker, Professor of Practice, Texas A&M University and Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University and Director Emeritus, Los Alamos National Laboratory;
Ambassador(rtd) Larry C Napper, Professor of the Practice Emeritus of International Affairs, Bush School of Government and Public Service, US Foreign Service (1974-2004) including service as Director of the Office of Soviet Union Affairs, US Department of State and US Ambassador to Latvia and Kazakhstan;
John Holden, Sr. Managing Director, China Practice, McClarty and Associates.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, no one believed that a supposedly weak Ukraine could maintain its independence. As for Vladimir Putin, he expected to topple the Zelenskyy government in a matter of days—or less. And so, flagrantly violating the norms and laws that had promoted world peace and stability for 70 some years, a heavily armored column of Russian troops headed for Kiev. They never got there.

How could Putin have got it so wrong? Hubris, of course, but mostly miscalculation. Putin never expected to confront a brave and fervently patriotic population, a revamped military and the ingenuity and bravery of Ukraine’s civilian and military leadership. Nor did he anticipate a rejuvenation of NATO (Turkey and Hungary excepted) united in support of Ukraine, thus enabling a massive flow of Ukraine-bound weaponry from its arsenals. Or that his invasion would result in neutral Finland’s and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership.

It’s too early to predict the shape of a post-invasion Ukraine. Nor can we be certain that Russia will never again seek to roll back history by invading apparently weak neighbors. But one thing is certain. Putin and his army are being humiliated. He won’t get what he aimed for in Ukraine. Moreover, this conflict’s international ramifications – testing the foundations of the world order – are massive.

Postponed

Dates to be determined

Scientific study after study demonstrates the enormity of the impact of climate change on earth’s biosphere.  These changes range from the Arctic’s melting icecap and the desertification of parts of Africa to rising sea levels submerging Pacific islands and parts of populous countries like Bangladesh.  The increase and intensity of typhoons in Asia and hurricanes in the Caribbean, wildfires in California and Indonesia as well as melting ice, changing trade routes and new security threats in the Arctic are all part of this manmade phenomenon.

Some of this story plays out in 24/7 news – but much more does not.  What do we know about the national security impact of climate change and how US military planners are attempting to prepare for it?  What about its relationship to the increasing flows of migrants uprooting and risking their lives to cross continents, borders, rivers and seas in search of safe havens often to be met by hostility, indifference and uncertain futures?  What about the spread of disease and the possibility of pandemics we have yet to discover?  How can we address technological impediments to climate change mitigation?  Finally, why are even the governments of countries which have been on the forefront of climate mitigation, unable to move to a new economy based on alternative energy?

If we’ve known for years about the warming world, why hasn’t more been done to try to slow or deter its worst effects?  Many people now understand that climate change is, foremost, driven by rising carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas levels from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas and current agricultural practices like raising livestock and clearing land resulting in changes in our atmosphere leading to warming of the planet.  But are major impediments exclusively from oil and coal companies trying to preserve the bottom-line?  Are infrastructure and unemployment fears also holding us back? Are new technologies available or on the horizon to help mitigate the worst effects of the earth’s rapid warming?

The impact of global warming is not just an issue for scientific researchers, for military planners confronting the next national security threat or for energy company executives preserving short term profits.  It is more critically an issue that directly affects our lives and the future of our children.

Dealing with the New Normal:  Climate change is global.  Rising temperatures respect no national boundaries.  This is the new (ab)normal. As such it presents complex transnational problems.  It is an ever shifting calculus. It requires involvement from all levels of government, international organizations, large corporations, local city councils, small startups, researchers, teachers, students and all citizens of planet earth to begin to cope with this heretofore silent crisis.

This symposium will explore the interrelated issues of coping with the warming world from the vantage points of national security, economic viability, health and human welfare.

April 11-12, 2019

 Professor Melissa Bokovoy, Chair, History Department, University of New Mexico. Eastern Europe Specialist; Ellen Laipson, Director, International Security Program, George Mason University, former Director of the Stimson Center; Ambassador Charles Shapiro (rtd), President of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, former US Ambassador to Venezuela and career senior US Foreign Service Officer (rtd); Professor James West, former professor of Russian History and Humanities, Middlebury College and the Humanitarian University, St. Petersburg, Russia; Folkert Geert Wilman, Attorney, European Commission, EU Legal Service, Brussels, and EU Fellowship Program 2018-19; Ambassador James Zumwalt (rtd), CEO Sasekawa Peace Foundation USA, former US Ambassador to Senegal and career senior US Foreign Service Officer.

Please Download Form and Send it to Santa Fe World Affair Forum: Click here to Download Symposium Registration.

This year’s symposium on April 11 and 12 will address an issue of especially vital concern to us all: “Rising Authoritarianism: Can Democracy Meet the Challenge?” Taking place on the campus of Santa Fe Community College, the Symposium will bring together six specialists who will speak individually, introducing a global overview of the underlying causes of authoritarianism and of countervailing measures against its rise, followed by sessions focusing on the specific circumstances in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S.

Also included will be a student panel of foreign and dual-national students studying at colleges and universities here in New Mexico. As in the past the Symposium will offer all attendees ample opportunity for questions, discussions, and informal exchanges with speakers.

For more than two centuries, America has advocated for democratic principles starting with its Founding Fathers who proclaimed our nation to be created by and for the people, to joining with the liberal world to fight for our beliefs in two world wars.  Following those wars, the United States was in the forefront of international efforts to create global institutions dedicated to peace, prosperity and justice. Our leaders have sometimes badly faltered or made poor decisions in seeking to preserve American leadership and universal values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.  But we have for the most part tried to move forward towards such aspirational goals throughout our history.    Other nations have not always agreed with our individual policies, but no one doubted the American example of strong democratic institutions, a robust civil society and a desire to build a world based on common values and interests.

Now, as a new era of international strongmen emerges, are America’s traditions and institutions capable of ensuring that democratic principles continue to push back on the tyranny that has threatened every generation?  The symposium examines this moment with open eyes, asking tough questions about the global authoritarian threat, its underlying causes, and how it can be, and is being, countered.

When strong democratic institutions and civil society perform their essential functions, society enjoys a good faith debate about the best way to advance global and national interests.  However, when rule of law is eroded, nationalism politicized, alliances strained, the press demonized and society fractured by rising hate crimes and attacks on electoral integrity, the norms that promote and preserve a resilient democratic society become frayed. International institutions based on shared democratic values can also be undermined and weakened when the U.S. government appears to question their continuing relevance.

Can the U.S. continue to be a leader that holds others to account when we ourselves falter in meeting these challenges? What causes the authoritarian impulse to break out of the democratic norm, and why do so many here and abroad find these demagogic appeals so attractive?  Has a decline in American global leadership inadvertently given other nations permission to erode their own democratic institutions?  Will a fractured and divided America be able, or willing, to work with other democracies holding others accountable when we fail to do so at home?

Focusing on Europe, Latin America and the US, the symposium will examine these questions in order to better understand not only the causes and symptoms that bring us to this moment, but just as importantly, to explore what can be done to meet these authoritarian challenges to democracy.