Political Violence and Our Democratic Future

Civil wars have risen over the last decade, and 2020 witnessed the most active conflicts in recent history. Coups have returned with a vengeance. Troubling patterns have begun to emerge on our own soil, where partisan violence and hate crimes have been rising sharply. What conditions make a country ripe for political violence? Can we forecast what form that violence might take? And what can be done to avoid a more violent future for the United States?

Carnegie senior fellow Rachel Kleinfeld will moderate a discussion with leading conflict experts Barbara Walter and Scott Gates as they discuss the themes in Walter's bestselling book, How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them.

event speakers

Barbara Walter
Barbara F. Walter is the Rohr Professor of International Affairs at the University of California, San Diego. She is the New York Times bestselling author of How Civil Wars Start: And How To Stop Them, as well as numerous other books on civil wars. Walter is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a frequent guest on CNN, and an active consultant for the World Bank, the United Nations, the Departments of Defense and State, and the January 6th committee.
Scott Gates
Scott Gates is a professor of political science at the University of Oslo and a research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Peace Research. Gates has published many peer-reviewed articles and twelve books including: Fragile Bargains: Civil Conflict and Power Sharing in Africa, coauthored with Kaare Strøm (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming) and Limited War in South Asia: From Decolonization to Recent Times with Kaushik Roy (Routledge, 2018).
Rachel Kleinfeld
Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

event speakers

Barbara Walter
Barbara F. Walter is the Rohr Professor of International Affairs at the University of California, San Diego. She is the New York Times bestselling author of How Civil Wars Start: And How To Stop Them, as well as numerous other books on civil wars. Walter is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a frequent guest on CNN, and an active consultant for the World Bank, the United Nations, the Departments of Defense and State, and the January 6th committee.
Scott Gates
Scott Gates is a professor of political science at the University of Oslo and a research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Peace Research. Gates has published many peer-reviewed articles and twelve books including: Fragile Bargains: Civil Conflict and Power Sharing in Africa, coauthored with Kaare Strøm (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming) and Limited War in South Asia: From Decolonization to Recent Times with Kaushik Roy (Routledge, 2018).
Rachel Kleinfeld
Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Political Violence and Our Democratic Future

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