Kellogg Institute for International Studies - University of Notre Dame

09/09/2026

After more than a decade of erosion, support for democracy has stopped falling and begun a modest but widespread recovery across the Americas.

That’s a key finding of the new 2026 Pulse of Democracy, released by the Kellogg Institute and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Global Democracy. Drawing on 25,282 interviews across 21 countries, the report finds that support for democracy increased across nearly every country surveyed between 2023 and 2026 – the first broad regional upturn in a generation.

At the same time, persistent concerns about government honesty, effectiveness and responsiveness point to challenges that remain.

Read more about the findings:

The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, is an interdisciplinary community of scholars that promotes research, provides educational opportunities, and builds linkages related to its core research theme of global democr...

09/04/2026

Welcome to Kellogg’s newest International Scholars!

Fourteen Notre Dame sophomores are joining the Kellogg International Scholars Program this fall, beginning a three-year experience that brings together faculty mentorship, hands-on research, and a close intellectual community focused on global issues.

Meet the new cohort and see the full list of scholars: https://go.nd.edu/a6fdbf

09/03/2026

Kellogg PhD Fellow Coleson Weir, a PhD student in economics, has published a solo-authored article on the effects of Benin’s ban on female ge***al cutting.

His research finds that the ban succeeded in reducing the practice, but also produced unintended consequences: women received less education and were more likely to marry earlier. The negative effects on education dissipated after Benin introduced free primary education – underscoring how policies aimed at advancing health and human flourishing can interact in unexpected ways.

Read the article: https://go.nd.edu/7688ee

09/02/2026

The Kellogg Institute is a proud co-sponsor - register today!

09/02/2026

Study Global Democracy?
Join the Kellogg Institute’s prestigious Visiting Fellows program at the University of Notre Dame! We seek outstanding scholars and practitioners from diverse social science disciplines working on democracy – in a broad understanding – worldwide. Apply today to advance your research in an ideal scholarly environment.

🔗 Learn more & apply: https://go.nd.edu/f3fc44

09/01/2026

Today at Kellogg: Join us for the launch of "Accountability Shock: Why Transitional Justice Prevents Criminal Wars in New Democracies," a new book by Guillermo Trejo, Juan Albarracín, and Lucia Tiscornia.

Drawing on six Latin American cases, the book explores why some new democracies became highly violent while others did not – and how truth commissions and prosecutions can help break state impunity and prevent criminal violence rooted in authoritarian legacies.

The co-authors will share highlights from the book, followed by commentary from Carolina Jiménez Sandoval of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Kellogg faculty fellow Scott Mainwaring.

📅 Today, Sept. 1 | 12:30–2 p.m.
📍 Hesburgh Center C103
🥪 Light lunch available

We hope you’ll join us in person – or tune in to the livestream:

The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, is an interdisciplinary community of scholars that promotes research, provides educational opportunities, and builds linkages related to its core research theme of global democr...

08/26/2026

Registration is now open for the public keynote panels of the inaugural AI-Driven Modeling & Forecasting for Democratic Development and Decline (AIM4D) Conference at the University of Notre Dame.

Presented by the AIM-3D Lab and convened by Kellogg Faculty Fellows Michael Coppedge and Dmitry Zaytsev, the public program will explore the dynamics of democratic development and decline and the growing role of AI in understanding and forecasting political change.

The program will also mark the 10th anniversary of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project and feature the official launch of the AIM-3D Public Portal, a retrospective on a decade of V-Dem research, and a roundtable with V-Dem principal investigators and project managers.

These keynote and panel sessions are open to the public. Learn more and register: https://go.nd.edu/d835e1

08/24/2026

ND Undergrads: Learn more about the Kellogg Developing Researchers program! Check out: https://go.nd.edu/f30942

08/22/2026

When Ukrainian priests Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levytskyi were abducted in Russian-occupied Berdyansk, Vitaliy Kosovych knew them personally - and believed something could be done.

Kosovych, now a Doctoral Student Affiliate of the Kellogg Institute, brought their case to Notre Dame’s Global Human Rights Clinic. Working with Kellogg Faculty Fellow Diane Desierto and fellow students, he helped investigate the priests’ whereabouts and advocate through international legal and diplomatic channels for their release.

After more than 19 months in captivity, the two priests were released in a June 2024 prisoner exchange.

Their remarkable story - of persecution, persistence, faith and the power of human rights advocacy - is told in full by Notre Dame Magazine.

Read more:

Two Ukrainian priests taken captive and tortured by Russian authorities found a fierce advocate in Vitaliy Kosovych ’24LL.M. and Notre Dame’s Global Human Rights Clinic.

08/20/2026

The divide between rural and urban America has become one of the defining features of U.S. politics. But how did it happen - and why does it matter for democracy?

Suzanne Mettler joins the Democracy Paradox to explore how economic change, population loss, shifting party coalitions, and growing distrust of political elites transformed the political geography of the United States.

The conversation also asks a bigger question: What happens to democracy when political identity increasingly maps onto where people live?

Listen online: https://go.nd.edu/1ab933
Or find the Democracy Paradox wherever you get your podcasts.