Democracy in America – The constitutional reasons for the current crisis

• Lecture 7 January 2026, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (sharp) in Room C40.704 (Central Building)
• Registration is not required.

What is currently happening in the United States? Why have democratic institutions and practices proven so fragile in the face of populist pressure from the president and his attempts to continually expand his power?

The lecture will address the structural aspects of the American Constitution that are contributing to the United States' current slide into authoritarianism. While political culture, economic pressures, and other factors also contribute to this crisis, part of the explanation lies in the weaknesses of certain constitutional features, such as the electoral system, the design of the Senate, the gradual expansion of presidential powers, and the role of money in the political process. These elements of the Constitution have paved the way for the erosion of democracy in America.

Professor Susan Williams, Walter W. Foskett Professor Emerita, has headed the Centre for Constitutional Democracy since 1991 and teaches constitutional law at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law. She graduated from Harvard Law School, was a law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and has taught at Cornell Law School and Panthéon-Assas University, among others.

The lecture is part of a series of events organised by the Joachim Herz Doctoral College on the topic of ‘Law and Transformation’. The fact that the crisis of democracy in the United States is not only political but also legal and societal in nature and is capable of fundamentally challenging the constitutional order of the world's oldest democracy raises questions about the resilience of other democratic systems (including the German one).